


If the world knew...

by ashryvergrace



Series: If The World Knew... [3]
Category: Area 11, Bandom, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Supernatural, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Gen, Half-Vampires, Healers, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Suicide Attempt, Vampire Hunters, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-03-13 06:06:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 40
Words: 63,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18934963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashryvergrace/pseuds/ashryvergrace
Summary: When the existence of vampires is revealed to the world, some take it upon themselves to stop the monsters roaming in the dark. But what happens when the lines between the good and the bad blur and fade? What happens when the hunter changes into the predator?(It is not necessary to have read the previous installments in the series, don't be put off.)





	1. Information Dump (You do not have to read this)

**Author's Note:**

> FANDOMS BY ENTRY CHAPTER  
> Fall Out Boy: Chapter 3  
> Panic! at the Disco: Chapter 8  
> My Chemical Romance: Chapter 9  
> Twenty Øne Piløts: Chapter 30  
> Supernatural: Chapter 37  
> Area 11: Chapter 38
> 
> It is by no means necessary for anyone to read the information dump, but it helps me get things straight in my head. It may help those people who like everything sorted into neat little boxes.
> 
> Here is the link to the World Anvil:  
> https://www.worldanvil.com/w/earth-ashryvergrace
> 
> Here is the link to the Discord Server:  
> https://discord.gg/reBs97R
> 
>  **WARNINGS:**  
>  Chapter 13  
> Chapter 26

Species:

_**Vampires:**_ The process of turning into a vampire is incredibly painful and lasts about six days. They scare humans mainly because every single vampire is different with different strengths and weaknesses.  
_**Type One:**_ Immortal, their irises and pupils glow red when feeding or using an ability, they have mid-length fangs on outer incisors and canines, 8x Enhanced HAS4. The rarer few possess one of two additional gifts, either a kinetic power or a shifting ability. Kinetic powers included shadows, fire, air, water and earth. Shifters usually bore animal-like secondary forms. However, having either ability was extremely rare. Powers are usually passed on from the sire, but if a person is talented enough in one particular area, they may manifest powers on their own. They are able to reproduce with humans, but not with other vampires. This results in a Half-breed. Blood-to-blood contact is required for the transformation. They are technically alive as they still have a heart beat (Around 20 bpm). This type of vampire can adjust the age they appear so suspicion is left untouched.  
_**Type Two:**_ Immortal, their entire eyes glow red when feeding, row of short fangs over primary teeth, 8x Enhanced HAS4. They have no additional abilities and cannot reproduce with anyone. They are essentially the feral monsters that roam the streets, the easiest to spot as they are generally the laziest when it comes to cleaning up after themselves. They transform humans via their venom. They do not have a heartbeat.  
_**Half-breeds:**_ Half human, half type one vampire, limited lifespan (About 800-1000 years), they possess the enhanced HAS4 of their vampiric parent. Many also develop the bloodlust, however, they have adapted so they can drink the blood of vampires. They do not have full powers, some can shift in parts of an animal while others can weakly control an element. They have one set of fangs over their canines and their irises glow red. They prefer night to day but would not die in the sun. They often become deadly hunters. They cannot turn others into vampires.

_**Celestials:**_ Almost the exact opposite of vampires. They are born as what they are and are immune to the effects of vampire blood and venom.  
_**Type One:**_ Immortal, they have pale blue blood and their irises and pupils glow pale blue when they are using their abilities but they otherwise look human, 8x Enhanced HAS4. They are sometimes shifters and sometimes they wield kinetic abilities and they are able to have children with humans.  
_**Type Two:**_ Immortal, they have pale blue blood and their entire eyes glow pale blue when they are using their abilities, 8x Enhanced HAS4. They are also able to have children with humans. These have both shifting and kinetic abilities and things which make them stand out from humans. Fire wielders: Reddish tinged skin with long, muscular, spear-headed tails. Air wielders: Dragonfly-like wings which appear as tattoos. Water wielders: Blueish tinged skin with fins, gills, clear secondary eyelids and elongated, webbed fingers and toes. Earth wielders: Tanned brownish skin pattern like wood. Shadows, Psychics and Telekinetics don’t have any ‘extra’ features, instead they often take an animalistic secondary form and are almost indistinguishable from Type One Celestials.  
_**Demi-breeds:**_ Half human, half celestial, limited lifespan (About 800-1000 years), they possess the enhanced HAS4 of their celestial parent. They also gain abilities, though not as powerful as their parent’s ability. They often become deadly hunters. Their irises glow blue when using their abilities.

_**Sunwalkers:**_ Technically a species of vampire, however, because they also have celestial blood that come under neither category. One set of long fangs, irises glow violet when feeding or using abilities, Immortal, 8x Enhanced HAS4. Some can reproduce while others cannot. Children are always human, though some have abilities. Vampires become sunwalkers when they drink the blood of a Celestial which turns their usually-red eyes violet (Iris and pupil). Humans who are turned directly into sunwalkers also have violet eyes, however, only iris is coloured. However, they are rare as hunters are particularly attentive to daytime kills. 

_**Healers:**_ Ability to heal themselves or others. Effectively immortal. However, they do not have any additional powers, no ‘enhancements’ etc. Healing powers come from a combination of water and earth, the colours of which are blue and green respectively. This means that ALL healers, no matter skin and hair colour, have eyes ranging from blue to turquoise to green which glow (Irises & pupils) when their power is being used. They also have green blood. Sometimes confused with celestials. In every other way, they are effectively human. Limited lifespan (About 200 years). Even if one parent was a vampire or a celestial, they will still be a healer because that DNA is more powerful. Healer blood can heal any species. It is compatible with all human blood types and when given as a transfusion, heals the person in days. Because Healers are born rather than turned, giving a transfusion of healer blood has no effect (Other than to heal) on the person who receives it. Healers also heal faster, therefore it is possible for them to give blood once a month instead of once every two months.

~~~~~~~~~~

_**Natural Powers:**_  
Psychics: Yellow, some possess additional kinetic abilities.  
Fire: Orange, also known as Ignikinesis.  
Air: Light grey, also known as Caelikinesis.  
Water: Blue, also known as Aquakinesis.  
Earth: Green, also known as Terrakinesis.  
Sun/Stars: Red, also known as Heliokinesis.  
Shadows: Dark grey

_**Hybrid Powers:**_  
Electricity: Combination of Fire and Air, also known as Electrokinesis or Lightning manipulation.  
Sound: Combination of Air and Earth, also known as Audiokinesis or Thunder manipulation.  
Gravity: Combination of Earth and Shadows, also known as Gyrokinesis.  
Heat: Combination of Fire and Earth, also known as Thermokinesis.  
Ice: Combination of Air and Water, also known as Cryokinesis.  
There are others, these are just the most common.

HAS4: Healing, Agility, Speed, Strength, Stamina and Senses.

~~~~~~~~~~

_**Weapons:**_  
Celestial blades: Swords/Daggers/Knives made of either silver or gold which light on fire when touched. Silver helps kill normal Vampires while gold helps kill Sunwalkers.  
Some hunters also carry guns with gold or silver bullets while some prefer old-school methods - using archery or swordplay.

~~~~~~~~~~

_**Original Characters:** _

_**Alex:**_ Short for Alexandria. Healer, descendant of Evangelina. Born 14th May 1902. Medium brown hair dip-dyed dark teal, dark teal eyes, light tanned, freckled skin. Reserved, intelligent but friendly once you get to know her. Nurse at the hospital FOB visit after their first major incident, she moves to LA after meeting and becoming good friends with Pete, Patrick, Joe and Andy.

_**Eva:**_ Short for Evangelina. Vampire, ancestor of Alexandria. Golden brown hair, dark teal eyes, light tanned skin with rosy cheeks. She was turned when she was seventeen. Also quiet and intelligent, over six hundred years old.

_**Tabitha (Tabby):**_ Tabby is a Demi-breed whose ‘power’ is her cat-like ears and tail. Like all Demi-breeds, she has Enhanced HAS4 with Agility being her strongest area. She has shoulder-length chestnut-red hair usually tied up in a bun or a ponytail and hazel eyes with light tanned, freckled skin. She is twenty-seven years old. She leads Quinn and Celaena in a trio of proficient hunters known as the Venatores, 167 confirmed kills in total (Between the three of them) 2006-2009.

_**Quinn:**_ A Demi-breed born from a female celestial and male human. Her mother was born of type two celestials, one fire and one air. This gave her an electrokinetic ability as well as a shifting ability to a full secondary form, a griffin, a creature with the front half of a peregrine falcon and the back half of a cheetah. Her best of the six HAS4 areas is speed. She has long dusty blonde hair and steel grey eyes with light tanned skin. She is twenty-three years old.

_**Celaena:**_ A Healer with Demi-breed blood. She has a powerful healing ability both of herself and others. However, she is also not afraid to kill the vampires which hurt people. She has medium length dark brown hair and pale teal eyes with tanned skin. She is twenty-six years old.

\- - - The Venetores is a large organisation made up of highly equipped, highly trained, highly skilled groups of warriors. There are units dispatched all over the world. - - - 

_**Braeden:**_ Son of a Sunwalker. He is noticeably (About 2x) faster and stronger than most humans as well as being more agile with better senses but no connection was ever made. Hunter and the older brother of Elenor. Silent brooding type, tall.

_**Elenor:**_ Daughter of a Sunwalker. She is noticeably (About 2x) faster and stronger than most humans as well as being more agile with better senses but no connection was ever made. Hunter and the younger sister of Braeden. More delicate than her brother but still not fragile.

_**Luka:**_ Leader of the LA Clan. Born 19th April 1528, turned 27th February 1547. Psychic abilities with additional Cryokinetic powers. Black hair streaked with silver which matches his silver grey eyes. Tanned skin. Elle’s mate. He has an extremely cruel nature, frequently and severely punishing those who disobey or fail to follow through on commands. However, his psychic abilities allow him to twist the minds of his victims into thinking that he is doing it for their own good.

_**Elle:**_ ‘Second’ of the LA Clan. Born some time in 1596, turned in 1629. Psychic abilities with additional Shadow powers. Golden blonde hair which matches her amber gold eyes. Tanned skin. Luka’s mate. Almost as cruel as her mate.

~~~~~~~~~~

_**Non-original characters:**_  
If you don't know who they are, look them up.

Patrick Stump: Vocalist for FOB, Human  
Joe Trohman: Guitarist for FOB, Formerly Human, Vampire, Sunwalker  
Pete Wentz: Bassist for FOB, Human  
Andy Hurley: Drummer for FOB, Human

Brendon Urie: Vocalist/Guitarist for P!ATD, Formerly Human, Vampire...  
Dallon Weekes: Bassist for P!ATD, Human  
Spencer Smith: Drummer for P!ATD, Human

Tom Clarke (Sparkles*): Vocalist for Area 11, Human  
Alex Parvis (Parv): Guitarist for Area 11, Formerly Human, Sunwalker  
Jonathan Kogan (Kogie): Bassist for Area 11, Human  
Leo Taylor: Drummer for Area 11, Human

More Information:  
Pete Wentz gained Psychic abilities from his sire, Luka Del Moriay.  
Brendon Urie gained Psychic abilities from his sire, Pete Wentz.  
Pete manifested Audiokinetic abilities which were not passed on to Brendon.  
Brendon manifested Audiokinetic abilities without Pete's influence.  
Alex Parvis manifested Audiokinetic abilities.

_It is important to note that although Ryan Ross and Jon Walker didn't announce their departure from P!ATD until July 6th 2009, for the purposes of the story they left the band in late March 2009 and Dallon joined in early April 2009 while Brendon decided to play guitar himself rather than get a new guitarist. Also for the purposes of the story, Twenty Øne Piløts formed with Josh and Tyler as the original members._

~~~~~~~~~~

Other famous people who are Vampires/Sunwalkers/Other (Incomplete list):  
Gerard Way: Vocalist for MCR - Half-breed  
Mikey Way: Bassist for MCR - Half-breed  
Frank Iero: Rhythm guitarist for MCR - Half-breed  
Ray Toro: Lead guitarist for MCR - Half-breed (He's a lot older than he looks.)  
Tyler Joseph: Vocalist for TØP - 1/4 Celestial (Speed/Cheetah)  
Josh Dun: Drummer for TØP - 1/4 Celestial (Strength/Lion)

~~~~~~~~~~

_COUNTRY_  
\- Meet in October every decade (Years ending in 0)  
\- Alphas of countries meet with each other in a location which varies with ever 'Summit'.  
\- 28 days of varying political discussions followed by 3 days of parties, parades and dances, ending with the Samhain ball on the biggest holiday in the calendar for vampires. Attended by the alpha of each country plus their entourage (Up to nine others) as well as any other vampires who wish to attend the festivities.

_SECTOR_  
\- Meet in August every eight years  
\- Alphas of sectors meet in the vampire capital of their country, with the alpha of their country.  
\- Around 23 days of varying political discussions.

_STATE_  
\- Meet in June every eight years  
\- Alphas of states meet in the vampire capital city in their sector or country, with the alpha of their sector or country.  
\- Around 18 days of varying political discussions.

_COUNTY_  
\- Meet in April every six years  
\- Alphas of counties meet in the vampire capital city in their state, sector or country, with the alpha of their state, sector or country.  
\- Around 13 days of varying political discussions.

_CITY_  
\- Meet in February every four years (Leap years)  
\- Alphas of cities meet in the vampire capital city of their county or state, with the alpha of their county or state.  
\- Around 8 days of varying political discussions.

_TOWN/VILLAGE_  
\- Meet in December every two years  
\- Alphas of towns and villages meet in the city closest to them, with the alpha of that city.  
\- Around 3 days of varying political discussions.

Sectors are usually West (W), Central (C) and East (E) for every country which has need of them.  
Countries which use sectors to deal with large land space: Russia, Canada, United States, Brazil, Australia and China.  
Countries which use sectors to deal with large numbers of people: India and China.  
China comes under both categories because it is the 3rd largest country by land space as well as the country with the biggest population in the world.  
Although not a large country, nor one with a huge number of people (Compared to the rest of the world) the UK has four sectors - Northern Island (N), England (E), Scotland (S) and Wales (W), however, it does not have states.

Some countries do not have either states nor sectors. Other countries have both. Most countries have either one or the other.

Emergency Summits can be called in any year without a normal summit and in any odd-numbered month. They are attended only by alphas and betas/seconds and deal with much more serious issues and matters.


	2. When the world knew...

On the sixth of June 2006, the world was introduced to the concept that vampires are real. A humanoid body was discovered in LA, covered in severe burns, unrecognisable. When the autopsy was complete, there could be no doubt about the existence of other creatures, things that may have looked human but were not quite right. The coroner found that the being was at least seven hundred years old at the point of death. When its eyes were prised open, it was found that the irises and the pupils were a deep red colour, like death and blood. If nothing else convinced the humans, the presence of a set of organic fangs on the corpse settled any doubts in people's minds. But it was likely that if it wasn't for the conformation of the age of death, no one would ever have believed it.

From then on, vampire attacks became common place and relatively widely known about, though they were always half covered up. After a few months, the governments worldwide released a programme to try and control the rising death toll. Pairs, trios and groups of four or more could apply for hunter's permits, which allowed them to train with and carry anti-vampire measures. Of course, to begin with, the hunters died. Most of them were not well trained and they were poorly equipped, most carried stakes or knives - or the occasional machete - not weapons designed to kill vampires. It was discovered that the UV rays in sunlight were extremely harmful to vampires, so soon enough, governments worldwide spent millions fitting street lamps with a UV component which discouraged vampires from appearing at night. The permits also allowed those who were injured on the job access to free health care - permit numbers could be taken down and applications sent to the government who would pay for the treatment of those hunters injured by vampires.

It was over a year later, on the eighth of October 2007, that Fall Out Boy applied for a permit. Their police-style badges arrived soon after and they attended a mandatory rules and regulations meeting, trying their best to prepare themselves for the task they were taking on. They bought matching outfits, though each member wore theirs differently, badges clipped to belts or hung around the neck on a chain. In the beginning, they were clumsy, careless. Many, many injuries and plenty of near-death experiences, but they made it through the first month - and that was a start.


	3. 01:15, 14th November 2007 - Patrick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEW YORK, after the show in Madison Square Garden.

Andy. They’d hit Andy. It wasn’t the first time and I was fully aware that my concern for him should have been higher, but I couldn’t bring myself to actually feel anything. Five weeks. We'd been doing this five damn weeks and we'd scraped through, but this was different. Joe was a mess, Andy’s blood coating the both of them and pouring continually from the gash which ran from under his arm, all the way across his stomach, stopping just past his belly button. Joe and Pete carried Andy in behind me as I ran towards the desk. “Please, help us. My friend is injured.” The man behind the desk glanced at me and apparently noted the worry on my face.

“Where is your license?” I scrabbled around, pulling the chain with my badge attached to it out of my jacket. The man took a note of the permit number and called into the intercom. After the nurses had taken Andy away, it was just a waiting game. We knew we should go home and change out of our bloodstained clothes, but we wouldn’t leave - we never did. After an hour or more, a doctor appeared and beckoned us into her office.

“We’ve patched up your friend. You’re hunters?” Pete nodded. “Okay. Listen, this is going to sound insane but we’re living in insane times so hey, let's see how this will go. The world found out about vampires too soon and they weren’t ready, that’s why we haven’t told them about the rest of us.”

“The rest of who?” Pete asked, exhaustion lacing his words with an edge of sarcasm.

“Celestials. Half-breeds. Demi-breeds. Healers,” the doctor said calmly, glancing between the three of us.

“What?” Joe questioned, rubbing his head, his eyes drooping slightly.

“Okay. The vampires are originally humans who are turned. Celestials are the complete opposite, born, considered ‘pure’. They have weapons which kill vampires within a minute, not like the long, drawn out methods humans use. Then you have half-breeds, beings which are half vampire and half human, deadly as their vampiric parents but a lot more reasonable. Bloodthirsty creatures, they are excellent hunters because they can drink vampire blood instead of human blood. Demi-breeds are also half human, but they are also half celestial. They are also dangerous hunters. Then there are healers," she paused, glancing at the three of us, "like me. We’re humans, just born differently. We have green blood which has healing properties. A transplant of healer blood would completely heal a human of almost anything. A lot of us are nurses and doctors. I want to help the human hunters out there and you are the first to turn up at my door.” I rubbed my eyes, yawning from exhaustion as I attempted to process her words.

“What? None of this makes any sense,” I breathed. The doctor stood up and opened a packet containing a scalpel, pulling the sharp implement out.

“Right, the best way is for me to show you. Patrick, give me your arm.” I frowned and attempted to conceal my yawn.

“Why?”

“Because the other gift I have is…I don’t know what you’d call it…a sixth sense maybe. I can tell when someone is injured and what the injury is.” I glanced at Pete and he shrugged so I gave the doctor my arm. She rolled the sleeve up, exposing a nasty gash I didn’t even realise I had. She carefully brought the scalpel up and cut a line across her wrist. Beads of green blood bubbled on the top of the cut and she turned her wrist over, letting three drops fall into the cut on my arm. With her free hand, she grabbed hold of her own cut, covering it completely with her hand. When she took her hand away, the skin was perfectly clear, not even a scar to mark where she’d cut herself. Then she wrapped her hands around the cut on my arm and there was a strange tingling in my skin. When she removed her hands less than a minute later, the skin had knitted back together and there was only the narrowest pink scar showing where it had been. Pete stared at my arm and then at the doctor in amazement and confusion.

“How’d you do that?”

“I told you. I’m a Healer. Listen, I’m going to heal Andy, but it might take a little while. If you sit in the waiting area, I’ll send him out to you with my address. If any of you are injured, come to the hospital and ask directly for me. If I’m not here, you can go to my flat. Doesn’t matter what time, just ring the bell, I have a buzzer which goes off next to my bed if someone’s at the door. I’ll heal you.” We watched her wander away in silence before there was a quick exchanging of words.

“Guys, what the hell?” Joe grabbed my arm, studying the narrow pink scar. "This can't be real. I mean, first vampires and then...then celestials? Healers? Come on." I was inclined to agree, but there was no other way of explaining the faint line on my arm.

“So what, now we're living in a world where there are more than just vampires?” Pete folded his arms and leaned back against the wall.

"This is so weird. If you'd told me when we started this band that we'd be hunting monsters together, I'd have laughed in your face. And now we’re here?" I leaned against the wall next to my best friend.

"I know." My brain was still trying to process the new information. More than just vampires. It sounded ridiculous, but we were in a time where literally anything seemed possible. I sighed and slid down the wall to sit on the floor. Pete glanced down and a small smile crossed his face. I smiled back and tried desperately to pull the threads of my consciousness back together. 

"I'm going to get coffee," Pete announced, disappearing towards the café, which for some reason was still open, even at this ungodly hour. Joe glanced at me.

"We have to find the vampires who did this."

"I know. We will. But we can't do anything until Andy is okay." Joe kicked the wall in frustration, his steel-toe-caps leaving a dent in the plasterboard.


	4. 02:50, 31st May 2009 - Patrick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

We were screwed. We were so, so screwed. Alex hadn’t been at the hospital, so we’d driven straight to her house and we’d just rung the doorbell. Pete lay limply in Joe’s arms, bite marks covering every inch of exposed skin, dark red blood smeared across his body. Alex opened the door and caught sight of Pete, ushering us inside and turning the lights in the living room on. We pushed the furniture out of the way and lay Pete gently on the floor. Alex moved closer, pressing her hand to Pete’s chest while her power found his pulse. “His heart is racing. What the hell happened?”

“We were ambushed. A group of about seven vamps grabbed Pete while we were taking down a smaller group. There was nothing we could have done. They were gone by the time we got there and he was like this,” I said quickly, panic rising in my chest. She studied him, counting the bites. She paused for a long while, silent. I glanced at Joe and Andy; both their faces etched with worry.

“There is blood on his body which isn’t his.” 

“What are you talking about?” Joe asked, though we knew the answer.

“I don’t think those Vampires were looking for a snack. I’m sorry, I really am, but there isn’t anything I can do to stop this.” Joe and Andy looked at me, waiting for me to speak.

“What are you talking about? You can always do something. What’s going on?” They say denial is the first stage of grief. Perhaps they are right.

“Not this time. Patrick. Joe. Andy," she said, looking each of us directly in the eye, "he’s turning.” Our eyes darted to Pete. 

“Turning? Into…one of them?” Alex nodded once, confirming our fears, not that they needed confirming. “Do something! Please! Isn’t there something we can do?” I begged. Pete, my best friend, turning into a vampire. The thought made my head hurt and my heart speed up in my chest.

“We can make him comfortable. Turning is difficult. Forty percent don’t make it through. But, Pete’s healthy; he’s got that going for him at least.”

“Make it comfortable? He’s what? Turning into a monster? Can’t we just stop this?” I glanced at Andy. Of the three of us, he’d known Pete the longest.

“No, Andy. The only way to stop it now would be to kill him. He’s your friend and he will still be your friend after this, he’ll just be a little different. Make him comfortable, Patrick, because in all likelihood, he is about to spend the next six days in agony and there will be nothing I can do to stop it.” Alex disappeared through the doorway and I turned to the others. Joe and Andy were silent, staring at Pete as if he were a ghost. Just then, his eyes opened and he started whimpering like an injured animal. Joe and Andy backed against the wall, but I moved over, kneeling next to my friend, watching the pure terror in his eyes as he turned his head to me.

“What’s happening to me?” His voice was higher than I’d heard it before, fear and pain lacing his words. I wouldn’t lie to him, not if it could be his last days as a human.

“You’re turning Pete. The vampires, they turned you.” A tear trickled from his eye, streaking black eyeliner down his face. He faced me; eyes wide.

“It hurts Patrick.” Tears began to fall freely down my face. I didn't care about trying to stop them. “Everything is on fire. I’m dying.” 

“No. You’re not. You’ll make it.” I glanced to Alex in the doorway. “He’ll make it. Right?” She shrugged and shook her head in a way which told us that she didn't know. I turned back to my friend, leaning my head on Pete’s chest. His body convulsed and I stood up, moving back to allow Alex room to look after him. His arm reached out towards us and I felt my heart nearly break in two. Alex glanced at us as she worked to bring his fever and heart rate down.

“Is there somewhere private we can take him?” Andy and Joe glanced at me.

“We have a house out in the middle of nowhere.” She nodded, still concentrating on Pete’s temperature.

“Okay, does it have a basement?”

“Yes, why?” Alex shot a look at us.

“Sunlight, guys. Pete will need to be somewhere where there isn’t any sunlight.” My heart jumped a little as she beckoned Joe forward. He lifted Pete off the ground and we headed outside, piling into the van while Alex packed a bag. She climbed into the back next to Pete and me while Andy drove with Joe sitting up front next to him. 

The drive to the house was long and silent except for the occasional whimper or sound from Pete. No one felt like talking, not when there were so many emotions running riot through us that talking would probably only make the tension worse. He was our friend now and he would still be our friend after. It was the only thought that made me pause and take a breath, trying to think clearly about what Pete would want us to do. He'd want to be all heroic, to die rather than turn, but there was no way I was ever going to let that happen, not when I knew he'd already tried before and that he wouldn't make a mistake this time. This time, he'd make sure it was done, finished the way he wanted it. The thought made me shiver and close my eyes. I couldn't think like that. I had to think about how to help. I couldn't be self-absorbed; I needed to focus on helping my friend, not worrying about myself. Still, a faint pang of worry for the others had me glancing at Joe and Andy. Though neither of them had their faces to me, I knew they weren't okay. Andy did this because he hated vampires for what they did to humans. He'd seen so many people torn open, blood drained as they were abandoned at the side of the road. Joe was the same; he's seen vampires kill people and barely escaped with his life. I did it because Pete wanted to and now, he was becoming one of the things he hunted. I watched his face, feeling a burning hole in my chest, suppressed emotions resurfacing. The exhaustion hadn't even begun to creep in yet, just the big empty feeling of nothingness as every emotion I had fought against each other in my head and in my heart.


	5. When the change comes...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

For the last two days, Pete had been in and out of consciousness. It was only on the third day that he’d woken up, properly and fully for the first time. Between bursts of intense pain which either had him screaming or in so much agony that he couldn’t make a sound, occasionally, he would speak, always somewhere between coherent and nonsensical, sometimes he would even get up and wander around in the basement. By the fourth day, he began to shy away from the patches of sunlight from the skylight-like windows and on the fifth day, the bursts of pain grew longer, more intense, more often. His chocolate eyes turned, burning deep red, on and off and on again when he accidentally walked through a beam of sunlight or when one of us came near. The lights grew too bright for him; the sounds too loud, even our hearts beating in our chests hurt his ears.

It wasn’t until the sixth day, the final day, when his fever was off the scale and his heart rate had reached 210, when he was in constant agony, screaming and silent, drenched in sweat and tears - that was when the final stage happened. We were all there when his fangs broke through. It was like everything had suddenly stopped, grinding to a startling halt. Pete grew predator still, slowly standing up, flicking glowing, pupil-less red eyes to each of us in turn as his top lip curled into a snarl and he lunged forward. The three of us drew weapons and Pete stopped, hovering, almost unsure of what to do. Then he turned and jumped the eight feet up through the window, disappearing into the night. The three of us turned to Alex, eyebrows raised, panic beginning to set in.

“What the hell? Where’s he gone? Is he coming back?” We fired questions at her until she raised a hand, silencing us.

“He’s just finished turning, he’s going to be starving. He’s likely gone to find food - find a person to drain. Most new vampires drain two or three people on their first time before they are full. Many vampires run straight back to their sire - their creator, but Pete is strong. I'm sure he’ll be back.” We glanced at each other.

“So he’ll come back. Great. Before or after he’s drained and killed people?” Alex gave us a look saying that we knew the answer to that question. I glanced sideways to Andy and Joe. “Right then, suit up.” We stormed up to our separate rooms, changing into our hunting clothes and grabbing weapons as fast as humanly possible. 

The door began to close behind us on our way out as Alex called after us. “There’s no point going after him. You’ll never find him. He’ll come back on his own eventually.” We ignored her, climbing into the car and heading to the middle point of the city. 

~~~~~~~~~~

After four hours, we’d found nothing. No bodies, no vampires, nothing. We returned to the house, tired from being on the go all night. Alex almost smirked at us as we trudged inside and dumped our weapons, but one glare from Joe had her turning away and finding something else to do as we slumped onto the sofa to wait. The clock ticked past five am and the door creaked slightly, near-silent footsteps trying to creep past. We sat up and Pete stopped moving, a deer caught in headlights. I could see the faint traces of blood around his mouth making Joe, Andy - hell, even me - itch to reach for our weapons. Pete swallowed and moved cautiously towards us, reaching his hands out a little.

“I’m sorry. I tried to stop it. I tried. I tried. Oh god. I killed them.” He collapsed to his knees in front of us; blood-stained hands reaching out towards me. “I killed them Patrick.” He stood and sped forward, stumbling back to his knees in front of me. “Please, you have to make it stop.” His voice shook with emotions I couldn’t place. I could imagine though. He feared what he might do, regretted what he had already done and hated what he had become. “You have to stop it. Stop me. Please Patrick.” Tears lined his currently chocolate coloured eyes with silver as he handed me a dagger coated in blood. From the way it swallowed the light instead of reflecting it, we all knew it wasn’t human blood on the blade. I frowned and knelt down in front of him as his head dropped, his shoulders rolling inward as his emotions overwhelmed him and he began to cave in on himself. I reached a hand to one of his shoulders, running my fingers along the edges of a cut in his clothes.

“Take off your jacket.” He stared at me but complied, slowly stripping his black leather jacket off, revealing a bloodstained white t-shirt which he also pulled off over his head. I reached out a hand to a deep wound in his shoulder, slowly healing over but still slightly bleeding. Blood which wasn’t quite the bright red of human blood but darker, somewhere between red and black - the colour of vampire blood. I swallowed and glanced at the dagger, realising it was Pete’s dark coloured blood dripping from the blade.. He gripped the end of the blade in my hand, pressing the sharp tip into his chest over his heart and dropping his hands. 

“Please,” he said quietly in a voice so lost, so broken that my heart ached for him to know we still loved him, still cared about what happened to him. I glanced at Andy and Joe and they both shook their heads slightly. I dropped the knife, watching as Pete stared at me with empty eyes, the spark in them guttering.

“Pete. Come on. I can't.” I offered a hand and he took it, though he didn’t stand up. "Please." I pulled him to his feet and hugged him. "We still need you Pete." Joe and Andy left to get some sleep, but I waited with Pete for a long while, letting him sob into my shoulder for a long while. Eventually, the exhaustion of the night got to both of us and we collapsed on the sofa in the basement to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

We turned the news on that lunchtime, wishing we didn’t have to. “And last night’s body count has been totalled at seventeen, the biggest count in one night for five months.” Pete stared at the news lady in horror, sitting on the sofa in the basement with his knees pulled under his chin.


	6. 19:07, 17th June 2009 - Patrick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

After the initial transformation, things only began to get worse. The three of us were permanently wary of Pete and he grew ever darker, his emotions running riot through his head. I began developing a blend, a mixture of ingredients designed to help curb Pete's bloodlust while still give him full access to his powers. For a while, that kept everything quiet. He hunted with us once the sun had fallen from the sky and our success rate flew upwards. 

But the brief period of calm didn't last. Pete began retreating to the basement, more and more, to hide from us. More than once, I caught him staring at us like a predator stalking prey. That's what we were to him now, as much as he fought against it. 

It took eleven days for him to cave to his instincts again. We were out, hunting a stray vampire. We had basic information; she had been part of the LA clan but had recently been cut off. She'd dropped more than thirty bodies in six nights across the city and the count was climbing. We'd headed to the mid-point of the city, as we always did, sweeping outwards. I went north, Joe took the east, Andy went south and Pete took the west. We'd been searching for an hour and a half before anything happened. Pete's voice echoed into our communications units.

"I've caught her scent." I sighed with relief and picked up Joe and Andy on my drive back to the location Pete had told us. We parked carefully and climbed out, glancing around and upwards to check for any vampires around us before looking for Pete. There was nothing but an ominous, glistening, dark red stain on the pavement which disappeared into a back alley. We approached cautiously, knowing that if it were a group of vampires, it would not end well.

We rounded the corner, hearts jumping as we found Pete kneeling over a human, fangs sunk into the girl’s neck, a boy lying dead next to her. I ran forward as he released her and fell back, turning his head to face me. His eyes cleared; their red glow replaced with fear as he scrambled backwards into the side of the building. Andy stared at the bodies as Joe felt for a pulse. “They’re dead.” Andy glanced at me and I crouched in front of Pete. 

“What do we do?” Andy's voice pierced my thoughts. I looked down at the blade in my hand and back at Pete. He was shaking, his eyes wide with a terror that we would hand him in. Or kill him ourselves. We had the evidence needed to ask for a kill warrant. I swallowed and shook my head. If the Pete we knew was truly all gone, he wouldn't be staring at us in terror, waiting for judgement and execution. He was still in there somewhere, just as afraid as when he was human.

“We protect him. Come on.” Joe and Andy didn't argue as we lifted the bodies into the back of the car and covered them with blankets. Pete flinched and recoiled as Andy and I helped him into the front seat of the car, locking the doors. Joe, Andy and I leaned against the car.

"What about Helen Jeffrey?" Joe asked. I glanced at Pete in the car.

"You two keep going. Find her and put an end to her. I'm going to take Pete back to the house and we'll talk when you get back."

"What are you going to do until then?" Andy questioned.

"Call Pete's wife." My friends winced and stood up, checking their weapons. "Be safe." They nodded and I climbed into the driver's seat of the car, glancing at Pete. "Come on. Let's go home."

~~~~~~~~~~

Andy and Joe arrived back around half four in the morning with a stolen car and a dead vampire in the back seat. I sighed and made sure it was hidden safely away in the garage until we had a chance to get rid of it, deliver the body to the police for disintegration.

Twenty minutes later, Pete was sitting on his bed, a faint glimmer of fear still lingering in his eyes as he watched our discussion. I zoned back into Andy’s speech and tried to focus. “…and now you’re suggesting we protect him? Why, Patrick?”

“Because he’s our friend.”

“He’s a vampire,” Joe piped up, Andy nodding in agreement.

“Yes, he is. But he was our friend well before he became what he is now. We owe it to him.”

“We don’t owe him anything. Do you know who he killed? That girl was Elenor. Braeden’s younger sister, remember? And the boy was her fiancée. Braeden is not known for being particularly forgiving.” I closed my eyes. Braeden was an old friend of ours, a damn good hunter who had at least four years worth of experience, over a year more than us. If Braeden found a vampire, the creature would usually be dead before it had time to hiss - and there were no exceptions.

“We’ll have to make him see. Look. You both told me not to kill him on the very first night. If we hand him in, we’re just giving him the death sentence. We have to remember, before all of this, he was a human and he hasn’t lost his feelings by becoming a vampire. He just needs to learn to control the hunger.”

“Oh, a vampire controlling their hunger. That will be a new one. You’re delusional Patrick. Why can’t you see it? Pete’s gone and he’s never coming back.” Joe shoved me back into the wall and Pete was instantaneously in front of me, fangs exposed and hissing as he defended me from Andy and Joe, who skittered backwards. He turned to me and even I couldn’t stop myself from flinching. His face fell and he returned to perch on his bed, his fangs sliding away as his eyes turned brown again. I sighed and turned back to my other friends. “He can do it. We just have to give him time and patience.”

“What if he gets worse? What if he tries to end it all?”

“He’s tried twice already when he was human and he failed. And do you know who helped pull him back from the edge? Us.” They stared at me for a moment before glancing at Pete, sighing and heading upstairs. I also sighed, but I wandered over to Pete. “Hey. What happened?” He turned away, shame and guilt and fear crossing his face. "Please, Pete. Let us help you."

"How?" I closed my eyes. Even I didn't have an answer for that yet.

"I'll call Alex. Talk to her. Maybe she has a suggestion." I tried to sound convincing, despite not feeling at all confident in what Joe, Andy, Alex or I could do to help Pete.

"Maybe," Pete said quietly, lacking any sort of conviction whatsoever. He turned over again and closed his eyes and I couldn't help but wonder if we were really doing the right thing.


	7. 22:19, 19th June 2009 - Pete

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

He had to pay. 

They had to pay. 

The vampire who turned me, I could feel a strange pull to them despite not having a single clue who they were. Male? Female? Old? Young? I had no idea. Every time I closed my eyes, images flashed past, the people who had died in my arms when in the night I'd stolen their lives from them like stealing money from a bank. Then there was the burning in my chest every time I thought about what they'd done to me, what they'd made me take. I had no rights to it, it was not mine and yet there was something inside me I had to fight every time one of my friends came close. I hated myself for feeling like that at all, so permanently hungry. The blend was nothing compared to what flowed warm from the vein.

It was relatively early, almost twenty past ten, when I sprinted up the stairs, restlessly in need of something to do. I pulled my leather jacket on over my t-shirt and closed the door as quietly as I could behind me. Patrick, Joe and Andy were taking one night off to actually try and get a decent amount of sleep for once but I'd tossed and turned for an hour before deciding to get up and do something productive.

I knew one thing about my maker: We carried each other's scents. Sharing scents provided a way for vampires to keep track of each other and to find their way back to each other if necessary. No matter how many showers I took, I somehow couldn't get their scent off me. I scaled the side of a building in order to wander along the roof and survey the streets below before leaping the gap to the next roof. There was no signs that anyone was out tonight. From the top of the buildings I could see so much, more than any human would ever see. I could hear the fast but steady beat of a late-night runner's heart two blocks away. I could hear the erratic breathing of an asthmatic pre-teen in the building next to the one I was standing on. I could see a fox rummaging through someone's trash at the other end of the long street. I realised that this must be like how Brendon feels a lot of the time, information overload which is almost impossible to filter out to find what I needed. It certainly gave me a little more concern for him. 

There was a screeching of brakes and a clash of metal in the near distance and the scent of blood as someone's chest was split open by the force of the car crash. I turned towards it for two reasons: The human part of me wanted - no, needed - desperately to save the other people trapped in that car, especially as I could pick up the scent of gas leaking, pooling around them, exposed wires inches from lighting the whole situation on fire and making it far bigger. The vampire part of me could smell the blood leaking from the dead man and from the various other injured people but in the end, my need to help them won over the predator lurking beneath the surface. When they were free and a safe distance away, I returned to stalking the streets searching for a sign of my creator. It had reached two in the morning before I found their scent, old and stale, faded. Not good enough to track them - though by this point I was almost sure it was a 'he', the scent being distinctly male - but a start. 

I returned to the house a little while later to find Patrick sitting on the balcony of the second floor. I leaned against the doorframe, studying him. "Still up?" He shrugged.

"I slept for a couple hours. Just woke up actually. Where'd you go?" My head wrestled with my heart. I knew in my head Patrick wouldn't approve of me chasing after my maker and that it was therefore a bad decision to tell him, but my heart won out. He was probably my best friend in the whole world and I wouldn't lie to him.

"Tried to find my maker." He stared blankly at me for a long while before looking away.

"Fine," he said quietly, staring away into space. I frowned. No yelling. No telling me I was wrong. No...nothing.

"Patrick?"

"What?"

"You're not mad? Angry? I went after my maker. Alone," I tried to emphasise. For whatever reason, his acceptance hurt more than if he had yelled at me. He glanced at me once and then stood up slowly.

"No. Not really. I'm tired Pete. This whole situation sucks and there is literally nothing I can do about it. I just feel like however many vampires we manage to put down, another twenty spring up somewhere else. Every second day there's a report on the news about how this girl or that boy lost their life to the vampires and I don't know what to do any more. Why do we bother?" 

"We bother because we care, Patrick. If we didn't, we'd be as bad as the vampires themselves."

"I know. It's just, sometimes, caring never seems to get us anywhere."

"Caring about our fans has gotten us a long way," I countered. It was true. Without our fans, the band would never have made it this far. Patrick looked away from me but I knew there was something he wasn't telling me. "What is it?" He swallowed - twice - before speaking.

"I'm thinking of splitting up the band. Temporarily. A hiatus so we can focus on our own stuff." I stared at him blankly, fighting the riot of emotions ricocheting around inside my head.

"Let's talk about it with Andy and Joe in the morning." Patrick nodded, still sombre. After a moment he glanced at me with a little frown.

"On another note, the fans. They miss you. We can't keep pretending you're 'ill' forever." It was my turn to swallow and turn away. Since I'd been turned, the band had covered for me, claiming I was ill but that it was nothing serious and I'd be back to playing shows again soon. At this point, the lie was getting old. Something needed to happen - soon.

"I know. I just...I can't go outside in the sun for any length of time. We'd have to play an indoor show or at night. Even then, all those people, it's a recipe for disaster." Patrick nodded.

"I know. That is why I have asked Brendon to bring Dallon and Spencer round to dinner with the four of us."

"What?! When?!" My voice shot up in pitch as panic rose in my chest - fitting for the people, I realised.

"Not for another couple of weeks. The third of July. Then we'll have six days until the first show. Alright?" My head was screaming that this was a bad idea. A really bad idea. But I didn't want to let Patrick down so, in the end, I reluctantly agreed, attempting to push down the sinking feeling in my gut. I realised as Patrick wandered back to bed that this could be out last tour for a long while and the thought made the desire to do well in Patrick's eyes stronger. Maybe, I thought, maybe if he sees that we're stronger than we've ever been, he won't want to break the band up. 

False hopes and pretty lies are always better than painful truths.


	8. 17:46, 3rd July 2009 - Patrick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

We'd pulled the curtains shut, blocking out most of the late afternoon light which streamed in through the window. July in LA meant that the full sunset didn't happen until well into the 'night'. I made sure to double check anything - we couldn't afford risks tonight.

“Pete? Brendon, Dallon and Spencer are coming over in like, ten minutes. Are you sure you’re ready?” I called down to the basement. There were muffled thuds and Pete’s voice faintly calling back up the stairs. I breathed in and out, closing my eyes and trying desperately to calm my nerves. When I opened them again, Pete was standing in front of me, one eyebrow raised, arms folded across his chest and I jumped. “Pete you really have to stop doing that.” He smiled - the look somewhere between wry and sad - and followed me to the kitchen.

“Why are we having Panic! round again?”

“Because they’ve not seen you since…well, since you turned. At some point you’ll have to get reintroduced to the world. Brendon seems like a safe place to start. He’s like a little brother to you. And he goes hand in hand with Spencer and Dallon so they're coming too.” Pete brushed a stray strand of hair out of his eyes and glanced around the room, eyes always moving. He’d been doing that more since he turned. He was always alert, constantly aware, waiting for the next threat. But, he was better than he had been. We were both better than we had been since our talk a couple of weeks ago. “Pete.” He stared straight at me. “Calm down. It’s going to be fine.” He swallowed and nodded. “You need to drink something.” He shook his head and swallowed, staring at me.

“I can’t.” I studied him and nodded.

“Fine. But if you need something, don’t wait.” He nodded and hopped up onto the counter. That was something else he’d taken to doing, hovering around one of the rest of us just in case. The doorbell rang and he glanced at me. I got the sense that he was more afraid of what he might do to his friends than what the members of Panic! At The Disco might do to him when they found out. I smiled reassuringly and wandered over to open it, letting Brendon, Dallon and Spencer inside. They were all dressed well, far better than either Pete or I in our comfiest clothes. “Hey.” Brendon grinned and stepped over the threshold, hugging me before heading straight to the kitchen.

“You got any chips? I’m starving.” Spencer and I rolled our eyes and followed him, Dallon close behind like a giraffe towering over me.

“Cabinet next to the fridge.” There was a rustling of a bag and he also jumped up onto the counter, content with his bag of chips. Spencer and I leaned against the sink opposite Brendon and Pete. 

“So, its been a while. How’ve things been? Nothing new since Folie à Deux?” We shook our heads and I glanced at Pete. We’d spoken twice now about taking some time away from each other, splitting up the band even. We all needed the break, especially after how our last album was received, how the fans were acting. “We’ve been working on our next album. After tour finishes we’re going to start, recording, just bits and pieces when we feel like it. We don’t want to force it, especially after Ryan and Brent…” He was momentarily silent, looking sad. We shared a moment of quiet just thinking about the past few years. 

After a while, Brendon perked up and jumped down off the counter, heading through to the living room pulling the curtains open before I could stop him. Then Pete wandered in. His eyes lit up red and his fangs descended as he hissed at the sunlight. Brendon fell back in shock, smashing through the glass coffee table, one shard wedging itself into his gut. In nanoseconds, Pete was on top of him, fangs sinking into Brendon’s pale skin. Spencer, Dallon and I ran forward, trying to pull our friends apart and finally, Pete came free, his fangs retracting and his eyes fading back to brown as he fell backwards. Brendon’s eyes fluttered and his body shook as his blood continued to flow from where Pete had pulled the shard of glass free. I pulled my phone out, my hands shaking as I called Alex. There wasn’t a single healer within an hour’s drive and according to her, at this rate, Brendon would bleed out in less than half an hour. I ended the call as Pete fell to his knees next to Brendon, panic crossing his face as he searched for a way to stop the bleeding. Brendon was clutching the wound, pain twisting his face. He was silent, his breath escaping in short bursts. Pete's eyes darted wildly until they settled upon a speck of Brendon’s blood which had fallen onto his wrist.

“I’m sorry,” Pete murmured under his breath as his fangs descended again and cut deep into his own wrist. Two drops of Pete’s blood fell into the wound. Instantly, Brendon stopped shaking, his eyes flared open and locking with Pete before closing and his body went limp. Pete turned to look at us, Brendon’s blood staining his mouth and their mixed blood smeared across his wrist.

“What have you done?” Pete scrambled backwards as Spencer and Dallon moved towards him.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I had to save him.” They stopped.

“Save him? You think you were saving him? You bastard! You’re a monster and you deserve to burn.” Spencer spat venom-filled words at Pete and turned abruptly back to Brendon. Tears streaked their way through the eyeliner around Pete’s eyes as he curled into a ball, caving in on himself. Part of me wanted to tell him it would work out, tell him it would be fine, but another part of me - deep down - hated him for turning Brendon. The transformation had been hell for him and it had screwed with his head badly. How could he have thrust that on the man he had taken under his wing? I knew it wasn’t all his fault but my emotions were so conflicting that I didn’t know what to do. I walked out into the hallway and called Alex back, briefly describing the situation and asking her to get here as soon as possible. She agreed but she wouldn’t arrive for at least an hour, if not more. She told us to do the same thing we had done for Pete when he turned so I helped Dallon carry Brendon down to the basement, putting him down gently on the bed. All we could do was make him comfortable and wait it out. Spencer sat down next to Brendon as Dallon leaned against the wall and refused to move so I wandered back upstairs to where Pete was still curled up in the corner.

“Pete? Come on. Brendon is going to need you.” His eyes flicked towards me, slightly unfocused, a predator lurking beneath my friend's skin.

“He’s going to hate me. I just...turned him.” Pete's voice cracked with the final words. I crouched down in front of him and grabbed his shoulders.

“No, he’s not going to hate you. You were trying to save him, he’ll know that. Come on Pete. Please.” He stood suddenly and moved faster than I could see, pausing in the doorway.

“I’m sorry Patrick, I need to speak to someone.” He disappeared and I closed my eyes slumping onto the floor, head in my hands. We had a performance in six days time. There was no way Brendon would be ready. And I wasn't even sure Pete would return. Andy and Joe leaned in the doorway. The commotion had been loud enough to pull them down from their rooms despite the soundproofing we'd done throughout the house. Their eyes skimmed over the pool of blood on the carpet and the smashed glass table. Everything laid out in the open.

"Who?" Andy asked quietly. I swallowed the sobs rising in my throat, unable to even say the word. My silence was enough for them to figure it out though. Joe glanced at the pool of blood and then back at me, speaking softly.

"Brendon."


	9. 11:46, 3rd July 2009 - Pete

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

I couldn't breathe.

I couldn't think.

Blood coated my hands and my face, the scent of Brendon all over me. Perhaps it was for these reasons that I ended up wandering. I let my feet carry me without paying attention. Perhaps that is why I ended up where I did, standing outside a huge mansion miles from home. I didn't know who it belonged to, but the scent of my maker was everywhere. I resisted the urge to go in there, terrified that he would gain control over me if I saw him. In my head, I tried to reason, maybe I didn't really turn him. Maybe it wasn't real. I wanted to cry or shout or scream or do something that wasn't nothing. 

I ran from the mansion at full speed, needing to get away from it. That night, I tracked down seventeen vampires. Then, I ripped every single one of them to shreds. When the sky cracked open at half past four, I stood silently letting the water wash away the blood. I ran my hands through my hair.

Oh god. The concert. We had a concert in six days. It took me that long to transition. Brendon would never be ready in time. What had I done? A voice that wasn't my own echoed around my head. 

_They'll hate you. You fed on your friend. You turned Brendon. And you think they'll forgive you?_ I glanced around trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, knowing it was inside my head.

 _They'd rather you died. What are you? A vampire? A useless one at that. A hunter? No, hunters don't kill humans. Don't turn humans. You're a monster._ I could only echo the sentiment. Whoever was talking into my head was right. Why should I try to carry on when I just seem to break everything? I studied the faint skyline offset against the sun beginning to rise, picking out the highest building. It didn't take long for me to have scaled it and be standing on the edge. The top edge of the sun broke the horizon and I felt tingling in my skin where the dawn light brushed it. I hadn't felt it in so long. 

_Go on. Do it. They won't care. They hate you._ A sob escaped my throat. The voice was right. It would be better to end it. I turned stared at the ground, hundreds of feet below me.

 _But Brendon will need me._ I tried to argue with the voice.

 _There are others. I'm sure Gerard and Mikey and the others can explain it._ I sobbed again. I was sure they could, but they were only half-breeds, not full vampires like what Brendon would become.

 _Brendon needs me._ The voice fell silent and I carried on staring at the road below until the tingling sting in my skin became unbearable and it pulled me out of the self-pity. 

I realised one thing as I slowly climbed back down the building: I couldn't go back, not yet. Where else could I go? I swallowed and contemplated going home to my wife. The notion was ridiculous. I was a vampire and she had my son at home. I couldn't go back, not when it would put them in danger. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, scrolling down to find Gerard's number. I hovered over the call button. It was five in the morning, he had a wife and a daughter who was less than two months old, it would be selfish to call him. But I caved, pressing the button and raising the phone to my ear. He answered after the second ring, sounding wide awake.

"Hey. Did I wake you?" I asked tentatively.

"No. It's fine. What's up?"

"Can I come over? I need to talk to someone who isn't Patrick."

"Okay. Try to be quiet though." I nodded though he couldn't see me.

"Give me twenty minutes," I said, hanging up and beginning the run to Gerard's house.

When I arrived, he was standing in the doorway. His eyebrows flicked up and he ushered me inside. "Pete what's wrong? You look like you just went twenty rounds with a brick wall." I tried and failed to summon a smile.

"Killed seventeen vampires." His eyebrows continued to rise and somehow, I couldn't meet his eyes as I spoke the last words. "Turned Brendon." His eyebrows dropped but he held strong as I collapsed into him. I knew he was probably trying to process things in his own head, but I was too wrapped up in myself and what I had done to care.

~~~~~~~~~~

**05:22, 4th July 2009 - Gerard**

I let Pete collapse into me, the scent of Brendon's blood shoving itself up my nose. I wasn't entirely surprised by the concept, it was virtually inevitable that Pete would turn someone eventually, it was just a shame it happened to be Brendon. I hadn't wanted either of them - any of them - dragged into this world, primarily because I knew what damage it caused. His sobs echoed through the house and after a few minutes, I heard footsteps on the stairs, two heartbeats steadily getting closer. I turned warning eyes to my wife, flashing them red briefly so she knew what I meant. She nodded and retreated back upstairs with our daughter, giving me a look which told me we would definitely be talking about this later. I winced, swallowed and concentrated back on the overly emotional vampire. He slowly drew away, staring at me as if I might hit him or yell. Instead, I closed the curtains, blocking out the sun which was now fully up. I waved a hand at the sofa but Pete did't sit down, instead hovering awkwardly in the doorway.

"Are you going to sit down or not?" Pete shook his head and I sighed. 

"You don't hate me?" Well, I thought to myself, he's certainly being frank.

"No." I noticed something, a little spark behind his eyes which flared and then disappeared. Hope.

"But the others will."

"No they won't. What you did, it's unforgivable, but it isn't you and they'll understand that. They'll just need a little while to adjust." I wasn't entirely sure my words were piercing Pete's self-loathing. "Pete? Are you listening?"

"Can I stay here?" I frowned. The request, however expected, came out of nowhere.

"Not forever. At some point, we all have to face our issues. But for a few days...if you want." A look something like relief flooded over Pete. He leaned against the wall, sliding down it and resting his head on his knees. "You need to sleep. Come on. I'll set up the spare room." But Pete was already gone, caught between being asleep and awake. I sighed and jogged upstairs, pulling a spare set of sheets out of the cupboard and getting the bed ready. Lindsey appeared in the doorway, minus the baby.

"What's going on?"

"Pete needs to crash here for a few days."

"Gerard. Seriously. What's up with you and your friends?"

"I told you already."

"I know. But I've never seen Pete...like that."

"He's not done so well with the change. This month, he hasn't performed or been seen in public. His control is lacking. Patrick arranged for Brendon, Dallon and Spencer to go over so they could talk, introduce Pete back to the world a little, especially since they have this show on the ninth. It went sideways. Brendon was hurt, the only way to save him was..."

"For Pete to turn him. Damn. No wonder you're all so messed up." I gave her a look.

"You're a part of this too now. I'm not like Pete, but all of what Pete is, I am. So's Mikey and Frank and Ray. It's just better hidden in us." She contemplated the thought silently while I brushed off the corner of the sheet. 

"And our daughter?" I swallowed, silent for a moment.

"Bandit will have it too. But it'll be better hidden in her than in any of us. She'll be more human than anything else. She just might be a little faster or a little stronger than her friends." Lindsey remained silent. "I can't change any of this. I would if I could. The chance to be normal, the chance for our daughter to grow up normal...I'd give anything for that to happen."

"Why? She'll be special, different, yes, but that's okay. Everyone is. I didn't marry you for your species, I married you for you. For your personality. One day, someone will do the same for her." I smiled and patted the finished bed before hugging her.

"Did I ever tell you that I love you?"

"Mmm. Once or twice. Always happy to hear it again though." We smiled and she returned to our bedroom while I fetched Pete, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and sighing as I lifted him off the ground, carrying him upstairs to the guest bedroom before heading back to my own room and lying next to Lindsey. My head pounded under the new weight of knowledge as I closed my eyes, letting the darkness envelope me.


	10. 21:36, 7th July 2009 - Patrick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Four days. It had been four days since Pete had turned Brendon and bolted out of the front door. Mikey had called on the first day to say Pete was alive but that he was shaken, staying with Gerard for a few days. Even so, my nervousness hadn't faded. I realised how much we depended on Pete for protection, especially when we were out hunting.

Brendon's transformation was moving a lot faster than Pete's had. Today, he'd stopped moving altogether and I'd remembered what Alex had told us when Pete was turning: Forty percent didn't make it. But Brendon was as strong as Pete. If anyone could make it through, it would be him. I glanced across at him, lying silently on the bed. His chocolate eyes were wide open but their colour was flickering back and forth, red flashing in and out. By this point in Pete's change, his eyes were solid red, constant. Dallon was still standing leaning against the wall, Spencer in the chair next to the bed. It was as if they hadn't moved in the last four days.

"Patrick!" Joe's voice echoed down from upstairs, disrupting the silence. I frowned and headed upstairs towards Joe and Andy standing by the open front door. They moved apart and my breath caught in my throat. Pete was standing in the doorway, the look on his face something like that of a lost puppy. He closed his eyes and swallowed once.

"I'm here for Brendon. Then if he wants - if you want - I'll leave. If you never want to see me again, I'll understand," he said calmly, as if that as exactly what we wanted. We stepped back, letting him inside and he made a beeline for the basement. Joe made to follow him but I caught his arm.

"Not yet." He looked at me skeptically and shook off my grip, following Pete anyway. I followed him and Andy down the stairs into the basement, watching as Dallon and Spencer tensed. Spencer looked too tired to argue or pick a fight with Pete, but Dallon's shoulders set in a way which made me think he might - and I wasn't sure who would win. Dallon had the height over Pete, but Pete was faster and stronger. Thankfully, Pete ignored Dallon and headed straight over to where Brendon was lying on the bed, taking his hand and slowly uncurling Brendon's fist, slipping his own fingers through Brendon's.

"Please Brendon, you have to make it. I can't lose you." He glanced at the rest of us. "Dallon and Spencer need you. We all need you." He fell silent and every one of us shivered at the same time as a wave of energy pulsed from Pete. At the energy passed through Brendon, red eyes flared open and fangs slid smoothly into place. Pete fell back and Brendon sprinted towards the door, as Pete had done weeks ago.

~~~~~~~~~~

**05:57, 8th July 2009 - Pete**

Brendon had finished transitioning. Like me, he had disappeared into the night to hunt down his first meal as a Vampire. Joe and Andy had long since gone to bed, deeming that it was my problem, mine and Patrick’s, but not theirs. Patrick had somehow persuaded Dallon and Spencer to go home and sleep, even just for a little bit. The door closed quietly at around six am, Brendon’s lean figure illuminated by the hall lights. Blood stained his mouth as he moved towards us. He blinked as if he was only just waking up, stumbled into the wall and only just regained his balance. He moved towards us, the scent of two - no, three - humans covering him. He stumbled again and I caught him. He noticed my face and his smile lit up as if there was nothing wrong.

“Pete! What happened?” Despite the blood coating him, he looked so innocent. I carried him down to the basement, sitting him on the bed next to mine. “Pete? What’s going on?” He asked as I stripped off his plain white, bloodstained t-shirt, revealing toned muscles and tanned skin underneath. I gently pushed him down, back onto the bed and he lay down, innocent eyes staring into mine.

“It’s okay Brendon. Everything is going to be okay. Just sleep now, okay?” He nodded and closed his eyes, curling into himself as we turned away. I glanced at Patrick and he raised his eyebrows as I sat exhausted my own bed and stripped off my shirt. He studied me silently. 

"Where have you been?" I swallowed, desperately wanting to evade the question.

“Around." There was a long pause where silence fell over us. "Do you hate me Patrick?” My friend frowned at the question and traced a ring of bite marks along my collarbone with one light coloured hand. He was already pale, but I had always had a tan, a slight glow from the sunlight. Recently though, my skin had turned pale, the same creamy moon white as Patrick’s skin.

“No Pete.” Though he tried to summon reassurance into his voice, it was nowhere near enough to convince me. He turned and walked towards the door, pausing in the doorway and looking back sadly at me.

I sat silently on my bed for a long while after Patrick had left, my mind replaying his words, the doubt in his voice, the uneasiness in his stance. As the clock ticked past half six, I stood, pulling my t-shirt and leather jacket back on and glancing at Brendon, fast asleep on the bed. "I'm sorry," I said quietly, turning and leaving through the front door. Guilt coursed through my system but there was something else too. Glee and giddy excitement. I pushed it down, ignoring it as I sprinted, the sunlight tingling against my skin, uncomfortable, but not unbearable as I made my way back to the house I'd seen when I first turned Brendon. I entered it through the window and found a male staring at one of the paintings on his wall. “Pete Wentz. Luka. It's nice to finally meet you without hunters breathing down either of our necks. So, you’ve done it then?”

“Done what? Who are you?” He turned towards me and I could see his face, strong jawline, jet black hair streaked with silver, eyes glowing red, fangs on full display.

“Hurt someone you love. Do you realise it now? This is what you are Pete, you cannot fight it forever. With me, you can be powerful, feared by thousands. Look Pete.” He grabbed my head and turned it towards the mirror. My eyes skittered across my reflection, hating it with every fibre of my being. My skin had turned pale from a lack of sunlight, my hair was across my face and eyeliner ringed my eyes. Brendon’s blood still lingered on my skin, the taste of him in my mouth, despite the four days of relentlessly trying to scrub any traces away. My heart fought against it but I bent to Luka's will, kneeling in front of him. He smiled with satisfaction and pulled out a knife, cutting into his palm, dipping his thumb into his blood and making a shape like an inverted cross on my forehead and down my nose. A droplet dripped off the end of my nose and I caught it on my tongue, swallowing it.

“I am Luka, your sire. Welcome to the LA Clan.” With those words, my eyes lit up in my reflection and my fangs elongated in my mouth. “We don’t hide what we are here. We know what we are and we embrace it. Understand?” The tip of his sharpened fingernail grazed along the underside of my chin, lifting me to my feet. I nodded once and Luka smiled. “Good. Take time. Sleep, but be prepared. We leave at eleven. There will be a hunt tonight.”


	11. 8th July 2009 - Patrick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA  
> -to-  
> COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA for the concert of the 9th July

A series of loud thuds from the basement roused the three of us and we headed downstairs, turning the lights on as we went. Brendon was on his hands and knees on the floor, retching. A pool of blood was expanding between his hands. His stomach hadn't yet adjusted to his new diet. He looked up at us with a certain desperation before throwing up again and collapsing to the side on the floor. Joe ran off upstairs for a towel or a cloth while Andy and I lifted Brendon back onto the bed. We cleared up the mess and decided that from now on, one of us would keep an eye on Brendon, at least until he had fully adjusted. Andy took the first watch, pulling up a chair while Joe and I went back upstairs to try and catch another few hours sleep. I paused at the top of the stairs, a thought crossing my mind. Pete wasn't there. He would have dealt with Brendon if he had been. He'd left. A part of my head told me to go and find him, but there was a bone-deep exhaustion which told me I wouldn't be productive until I had gained at least a few hours sleep. 

We were supposed to be flying out at two, so Joe roused us at eleven, giving us plenty of time to get ready. Our cases and our instruments were packed and Dallon and Spencer appeared with their cases and instruments after an hour or so. We ate lunch and packed our kit and clothes into the three cars which were taking us to the airport. 

"Guys?" Brendon's voice cracked, possibly from just waking up - more likely from the transformation. "What's going on?" He ran a hand through his hair, glancing at Dallon and Spencer. Despite the recent transformation and the throwing up and having just woken up, he still managed to look good. I winced. Neither of his band members spoke. He glanced at the suitcases lined up in the hallway, the remaining instruments which still had to be loaded. "Oh god. The concert. I'd forgotten. Did someone get my stuff together?" We stared at him blankly.

"You can't come Brendon."

"The hell I can't! The fans are expecting me to be there, so I'm going to be there." A look passed between the five of us and Brendon frowned. "Where's Pete?"

"Gone. Look. Brendon. Do you remember what happened? What you are?" He threw a withering look in my direction.

"Well duh. Come on. The flight has got to be soon. I'll grab my stuff and then we can go." This time, Dallon stepped forward.

"Brendon. Please, you can't. You've just been turned. You're too volatile. You could kill people. You have to stay here." 

"No! I'm fine Dallon. Will all of you stop it? Stop looking at me with pity. I'm fine." No one was convinced, especially not when Brendon's eyes flared up red and his fangs slid out. He hissed, shaking his head until both his eyes and his fangs changed back again. "I'm going to get my stuff." He moved forwards in a blur, crashing into the opposite wall. He hadn't even learnt to control these abilities yet, how they hell was he supposed to cope onstage with thousands of fans, the heat of the lights blaring sound and heat straight at him. We stared at each other, loading the last few cases and instruments into the cars.

"We can't seriously let Brendon anywhere near the other people," Spencer said, incredulous at the very idea.

"If he wants to sing, he will and there will be very little we could do to stop him. Who knows? Maybe he'll be okay," Dallon said optimistically. I couldn't echo the sentiment.

"Right. Of course. How long did it take Pete to get a handle on things?" Spencer replied, glancing at me. I swallowed and didn't reply, though I knew the answer. Three weeks - and even then, his level of control was patchy at best. Brendon had been a vampire for all of a few hours. The thought did not inspire confidence.

My mind wandered, thinking about Pete. Somehow, I knew he'd turn up for the concert, it was too important for him not to. The fans were too important to him. But there was an uneasy weight settling in my stomach, something was very wrong. Instead of letting my mind ponder the thought too long, I glanced at Brendon, climbing into the front seat of one of the cars with Spencer and Dallon in the back. The thought of him performing tomorrow night also did not rest easy. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called Alex.

"Hey Pat. What's up?" I relaxed a little at the sound of her voice. She'd know what to do.

"It's Brendon." She remained silent on the other end of the phone, waiting for me to elaborate. "He's finished transitioning." I heard her breath catch over the phone and counted the seconds until the said something

"What? It's only been four days. That's not right. Patrick, something could be wrong." I turned and banged my head against the wall.

"Well that's just wonderful. Because guess what. Brendon is far too stubborn. He's determined to perform tomorrow night at the concert." Even the sound of her breathing went silent.

"That's it. I'm flying in. Can you get me a ticket?" A small part of me wanted to tell her that we could handle it ourselves, but even I wasn't entirely convinced by that. I sighed and nodded even though she couldn't see me.

"Yeah. What do we do?"

"It may be psychological. Performing is ingrained into him, it may be that he made the transition early so that he could perform and not let his band down. If that's the case, he'll pass out at some point to complete everything that his body didn't get the chance to do before. He'll probably be fine," she rambled to herself. It was a little comforting - reassuring that Brendon would likely make it. "What about Pete? Where's he?"

"Gone. He left." Alex swore and I frowned, standing up straighter. "What is it?"

"Nothing. Never mind. You get on that flight. Make sure someone keeps an eye on Brendon at all times. I'll meet you there." She hung up before I could reply, leaving me staring blankly at my phone's screen. My eyes flicked to Brendon sitting in the car, wincing in the sunlight. I breathed slowly and locked up the mansion, climbing into the car with Joe and Andy. The third car had only our instruments and other luggage in it. 

We arrived at the airport in plenty of time. There was no fuss as we climbed onto the plane. Everything seemed fine. Brendon was silent, staring out of the window at the runway. I swallowed and sat down, pulling my belt across my lap.

There was nothing much to tell after that. It all went off smoothly, taking off, the flight, landing, arriving in our hotel. When Brendon's attention was distracted, I spoke to the others, telling them that we would have to keep watch tonight. The five of us took two-hour watch shifts allowing each of us to get eight hours sleep. We were exhausted enough that sleep came easily. Brendon was awake the entire night and when I got up for my shift, six until eight in the morning, he was still up, guitar in hand, picking out a tune. I sat with him, the two of us practicing our guitar lines for the show in the evening. Around half seven, Brendon's eyes drooped and he fell back onto his bed, eyes shuttering as sleep claimed him. Around the same time, Dallon's head appeared around the doorway.

"Hey. He's out. Are you good for the concert?" Dallon heaved a sigh.

"Yeah. It'll be exhausting but I should manage it. I'm more worried about him. He's new turned. He should have fed again last night. I have no idea what this is doing to him, how it might be screwing up the transition." I shook my head and glanced at Brendon.

"Me either." I paused, taking a second to breathe. "I need coffee. Wanna come?" 

"Hell yeah."


	12. 9th July 2009 - Patrick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA before the show

Brendon slept for nine hours straight, waking only when Dallon and Spencer decided they needed to get ready. He showered in half the time he usually did and emerged looking wide awake, his hair dried and styled perfectly. How?! How on earth did he manage to look completely perfect despite the last week? It was so not fair on the rest of us. Dallon was the only one who seemed to be able to half keep up. I sighed and glanced at Spencer and Andy - their drumsticks perfectly in sync as they practiced drum lines for a song, though not one we were doing tonight - and Joe, putting a new B string on one of his guitars - not one he would be using tonight since the string would definitely not keep tune. Dallon was sitting quietly with his bass, but his hands were nowhere near the strings. Someone knocked on the door calling for us to go down to the venue and we wandered down quickly. Inside, Brendon and I warmed up together and I noticed a couple of things. Firstly, despite the events of the past week, Brendon's voice was in perfect condition. Mine was definitely not and I was missing around three notes at the top and one at the bottom of my range. Secondly, his energy level was ridiculously high and I wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to maintain it for the show. Then there was something underneath all of that which wasn't quite right. I ignored it. If Brendon says he's fine then he's fine.

~~~~~~~~~~

We were standing silently in the wings of the stage, instruments in hand as we waited for the other band to finish. Across the stage from me, Dallon looked nervous, but I knew he had the songs down. I caught sight of a shadow moving and Dallon stepped away from the lights which illuminated into the wings, disappearing into darkness. At first, it was as if nothing was wrong. Then Dallon's tall, lean figure began descending the steps at the back of the stage. Panic and hope flared in my chest in a strange mix. The other band were offstage before we knew it and the countdown began. As the timer hit two seconds, I saw the briefest flash of glowing red eyes and we stepped out. A familiar figure stepped up to the mic to my left and my heart both rose. Pete had come back. Despite everything, despite my doubt in him, he'd come back.

And then my heart sank. He turned to me with a look that was not Pete. A look so inhuman that I knew then, my friend was gone.

But he was here. That had to mean something, didn't it? If he didn't still care, somewhere deep down, he wouldn't have come. Then maybe, I reasoned, maybe Pete was still in there somewhere, buried under the predator which wore his skin.

~~~~~~~~~~

Our part of the show finished with as high an energy as it had begun with. Despite the tension between the four of us on stage, the audience seemed enamoured, oblivious to our problems. Unlike our last few shows, no one booed when we played songs from _Folie à Deux_ and we were immensely glad of that. Our fourth album had not been well-received by many so-called 'fans' but we wanted to play the songs anyway.

I wondered many things throughout the show, the most prominent being: _Where did Pete get the setlist?_ I assumed he knew what it had been before the events of the last week had unfolded, but there was a nagging doubt in the back of my mind. The only people who had seen it was myself, Joe, Andy, Brendon, Dallon, Spencer and the necessary special effects technicians. I pushed it down and focused my energy into singing the last song. When it ended, we grinned and waved and left the stage. Andy and Joe made to move towards Pete, but he bared fangs, his eyes flicking red again in the low light.

"I played tonight for the fans. I will keep playing for the fans as long as no one tries to kill me. But I am not going to come back to you. You caged me. Luka freed me." Andy's eyes flared. I frowned, studying Pete. Black jeans, black t-shirt, black leather jacket. Black eyeliner ringing glowing red eyes, dark brown hair carefully styled. Pete. But, somehow not Pete. He lifted his bass over his head and something caught the light. A brand new tattoo on his wrist, peeking out from the cuff of his jacket, already healed over thanks to his vampire blood. A bronze and sunset orange insignia which stood out starkly against his now-pale skin. It was familiar and yet eerily haunting, terrifying and yet beautiful. He laid his bass carefully on the stand and disappeared in an instant. Andy breathed a long breath out and braced his forearms on the walls.

"Andy, what is it?"

"Luka? I thought it might be but I wasn't sure. But the insignia, that means it's true." Joe frowned and lifted his guitar over his head putting it down gently.

"What does it mean? It's familiar but I can't place it."

"It's the insignia of the LA clan, of which Luka is the leader. That means Pete is officially a member of the organisation whose operatives we keep killing."

"Okay. Not good."

"Not good? I met a vampire once who told me a few things. There was a meeting, clan leaders from all of the major cities on the west coast and this vampire managed to get in."

"Your point?"

"Give me a second to get there. Each village and town has a small clan and a clan leader, sometimes called 'alphas'. These alphas are members of a medium size city clan and report to their city clan leader. Then these leaders are members of very large state or county clans and must report to their leader. The leaders of each state or county clan also form part of huge super clans which can cover whole countries - as is the case in countries like Germany and France. Because of the size of the US, it is split into three sectors - west coast, central and east coast - and then above the sector leaders you have the US Alpha Vampire."

"Hang on, what?" I said, trying to keep up.

"Never mind. It is an overly long and convoluted system, but it is surprisingly effective. Luka Del Moriay is clan leader for the entirety of the west coast clan. That means he has hundreds of thousands of vampires under his command. He is one of the most powerful vampires in the world - and almost certainly the most terrifying. He's over four hundred years old and is known for cutting out a vampire's organs as punishment and then using strategically placed vampires at hospitals to give organ transplants, turning the patient into a vampire in the process. It is widely known that he has additional abilities, but no one knows what they are. At least, no one alive. He finds a way to kill or transform anyone who discovers too much." It wasn't until Andy had finished speaking that I realised Joe and I had been standing with our mouths hanging open. Andy's words clanged through my head like a drumbeat designed to instil fear in the listener. Joe was the first to speak up.

"I don't care how powerful or how much of a dick this Luka is. We're getting Pete back, even if it kills us. Bring MCR in. Bring Panic in. I don't care what it takes. Bring everyone in. Pete is coming home."

~~~~~~~~~~

**22:14, 9th July 2009 - Dallon**

We'd been playing for almost an hour and fifteen minutes. Brendon's energy was still so high that it was pushing the audience until they were almost louder than us. We had three songs left, but there was something wrong with him. I locked eyes with Spencer between songs and he nodded subtly. We were going to have to cut the show short. As we finished _'I Write Sins'_ , I slung an arm around Brendon's shoulders and Spencer got down from the drum riser. We took our bows and then left the stage, Brendon fighting us all the way.

"What the hell?" He yelled as we got back through to the dressing room. "Why did you stop the show?"

"Because there's something wrong with you Brendon," Spencer said a lot more calmly than I would have managed.

"What are you talking about? I'm fi...ne..." his voice faded as his knees buckled and he collapsed to the floor. I rushed over as Brendon's head hit the floor with a dull thud. I might only have been with the band for a few months, but I cared about them more than I could express.

"Dallon. Calm down. Go and get the others, I'll call Alex." I nodded, unable to find words as I ran through to FOB's backstage room.

"Patrick. Brendon..." was all I managed to stutter out before Patrick, Joe and Andy launched to their feet. On his way past, I caught Patrick's arm. "Pete...I...what happened?" Patrick swallowed and shook his head.

"We're getting him back. Even if it takes everyone." I nodded and hugged him.

"I know. And we're in. You don't have to ask." Patrick just hugged tighter, burying his face in my shoulder.

"Thank you." Our world was falling to pieces, but we knew one thing: We had this. Not the family we'd been born into but the family we'd built for ourselves, huge and extended, carefully crafted together, fans, band members and others, dysfunctional with a cacophony of issues. Ours.


	13. 03:47, 22nd July 2009 - Pete

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
> 
> \- WARNING, potential trigger factors

It had been two weeks. Two weeks when I was never hungry, never tired, never cold, never in any way uncomfortable or otherwise frustrated. I never wanted for anything and everything I needed was already provided. Whatever regrets I'd had about leaving Patrick, Joe and Andy had disappeared.

Luka was particularly restless yesterday, six humans died to feed his hunger and though I felt no regret, concern began to edge its way into my head. I brought it up as he signed for stocks of human blood. This irritated Luka and he sent me out to feed by myself. By the time I’d arrived back, there was a trail of dead bodies across LA. 

Today, I felt the full force of his wrath. The trail had lead to the mansion and the police had come poking around earlier, waking Luka from his sleep. His mood had further deteriorated and a tremor of emotion flickered through me when he called me to his council room. I arrived as hurriedly as possible and he made me wait outside before beckoning me in. His glare was stone as he sat on the throne. “Kneel.” I dropped to my knees and bowed my head, waiting for an order. Nothing came. Instead, cold shackles were clapped around my wrists, the steel biting into my skin. Somewhere above me, I heard a chain being run through a pulley wheel in the ceiling, one I had only noticed a few days ago. The chain grew taut and then forced my arms up behind me to the point where my shoulders were at the point of dislocation. “Now, Pete. You were careless. Clumsy. And you know I hate that. It’s one of my rules and you broke it, which means I’m going to have to punish you.” I raised my head a little to look at his face. He stood and wandered down the steps, bending onto one knee as his fingernail stroked my face, starting at my temple and running down to the point of my chin. “You know I don’t want to. You know I’m the only one who loves you. Don’t you Pete?” I nodded and he stood up. “Good.” He moved away and returned with headphones. Once they were in place, a high pitched shriek began emanating at full volume. My ears protested as my enhanced hearing complained against the abusive sound. The lights in the room began to strobe with every colour imaginable, making my eyes hurt. I screwed my eyes shut and tried to ignore the sound as the time passed. I wasn’t sure how long I was there, just that by the end, my ears and my eyes were bleeding. 

Luka removed the headphones and oh so gently wiped away the tears of blood. “Hey, Pete. It’s okay. I’m here.” Hot, salty tears, water and blood, flowed down my face and Luka smiled sadly. “We’re not finished yet, Pete, be strong.” I swallowed, trying to keep my sobs in. I caught a glimpse of his watch, the clock hands reading 6am. "Listen Pete. I want you to count with me. Do you understand?" I nodded, not daring to ask what I was supposed to be counting. That was then the crack of the whip first hit across my stomach. The pain was something I could never describe, not if I had all the languages of all the countries in the world. 

"One," I choked out. Ten lashes on my stomach. Then the moved my arms so they were suspended above my head. Twenty lashes on my back. They pulled on the chain, forcing me to my feet. Luka stroked my hair, cradling me between punishments. He slowly moved down my body, unbuttoning and unzipping my pants, pulling them down over my hips until I was standing in only my boxers. He kicked away my trousers and shoes, readying the whip again. Twenty lashes on my legs and feet. When he was done, I had fallen limp but the chains yanked me upwards my my arms, suspending me in mid air. Then everything started to go fuzzy and blackness crept into the edges of my vision. 

When I awoke again, I was being lowered to the floor and everything across my body was shrieking in pain. Having not fed, my wounds hadn’t healed over and they screamed in protest against the sudden collapse of my body against the marble floor. Luka ran over, lifting me up into his arms and sweeping me upstairs to my bedroom. Tears began to flow as I leaned into his shoulder. When he placed me down on the bed, I shrieked in pain and his hand fluttered across my forehead. “I know. I know it hurts. Here, drink.” He took a small knife out from its hilt in his boot, slitting open his wrist and dripping a few drops of his blood into my mouth before the wound healed over. Vampire blood was nothing compared to human blood, but it still tasted good and gave a similar effect. I moaned as he lay on the bed next to me, stroking, curling his fingers into my hair. I needed his touch, his attention and as much as my brain screamed that something wasn’t right, the feeling of his hands in my hair felt too good and my brain quieted.

~~~~~~~~~~

**06:04, 22nd July 2009 - Patrick**

One moment, Brendon was talking - more animatedly than he had since he was turned - the next moment, he dropped to the ground, biting back a shriek of pain. Dallon glanced at the rest of us, dropping to his knees next to Brendon and gently rolling him over onto his back. His eyes were glowing red but his fangs hadn't descended. Alex appeared from the living room, crouching on the opposite side of Brendon. Her fingers pressed into his neck and her eyebrows twitched together. 

"What's wrong?"

"His pulse. I'm counting fifty-four and rising."

"I thought Vampires didn't have a pulse. They're dead, aren't they?" Joe questioned.

"Not quite. Vampires have a resting pulse rate of around twenty. It can go up to forty and down to zero without putting them in any real danger, but it's just hit sixty and it's still climbing. His eyes also shouldn't be glowing like that without his fangs." She paused. "Unless..."

"Unless what?" Spencer said quickly, his usually calm voice slightly too panicked.

"His maker was Pete right?" We nodded. "Who was Pete's creator?" I glanced at Andy and he frowned.

"Why?" She raised her eyebrows. "Luka Del Moriay." With those words, Alex swore colourfully and clenched her fist, looking like she wanted to punch someone. "What is it?"

"You know how some vampires have abilities beyond what the average Sentry has?" We nodded vaguely. It had come up on occasion, but we'd never actually faced one with powers. "Luka Del Moriay is psychic."

"And?" I really didn't see her point.

"And all Vampires share a bond, a unique connection to their maker which grows stronger the closer they are together and weaker the further apart they are. A sire bond. They're weak, but they can be useful for tracking or having mental conversations over limited distances. Usually isn't a problem. But because Luka is psychic, his sire bond to Pete is going to be a lot stronger. As in 'Yes, sir, whatever you say, sir.' kind of stronger. Pete will quite literally do anything Luka asks him to."

"I don't see what this has to do with Brendon," Dallon spoke up, growing impatient.

"Sometimes, abilities are passed down through the sire bond. That means that potentially, Pete is also Psychic. Now, Pete is Brendon's sire. They might not have spent a lot of time in close proximity, but there's been enough contact. Pete's had plenty of time to psychically bond with Brendon and - Brendon with him. The other thing this bond does, it allows them to feel each others pain, quite literally to feel what their sire is feeling at the same time or vice versa. That means this," she indicated to Brendon on the floor whimpering, "could be the same state Pete is in." Five faces dropped from confusion and worry to horror.

"What are they doing to him?"

"It's Luka Del Moriay, Alpha of the West Coast Vampire Clan, renowned for his wicked intelligence and brutality with those who don't follow his orders. I don't even want to imagine..." Andy didn't finish his sentence.


	14. 27th July 2009 - Brendon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

It had been more than two weeks since I'd been turned, twelve days since we'd last seen pete and five days since we found out about my sire bond to him. I wasn't bothered by it - at least, I claimed not to be. There was a little pit in my stomach whenever I thought of someone else having access to my mind, even if it was only Pete. The seven of us were supposed to be going on tour in August and Fall Out Boy were supposed to be performing in under a week. Pete had turned up to both of the concerts since I'd turned, though he hadn't stayed long after the show finished. We were working round the clock to find Luka, but he seemed untraceable. His psychic ability allowed him to wipe people's minds clean after he'd used or abused them. All we found was a trail of dead bodies and people with missing memories. The permit for Spencer, Dallon and I to hunt had come through, meaning we could now legally be out hunting with them. I was ready; the fire in my veins needed somewhere to escape to and hunting monsters who killed humans for sport seemed like a good way to expend it. Besides, I'd discovered that I needed much less sleep now than I had before.

But there are problems that come with being a vampire. Gerard came round last night and we sat in the cool shadows of the basement. He asked me a plethora of seemingly random, useless questions, writing on a clipboard as if he were a psychiatrist. I told him everything. For some reason, it all just slipped out. With him, I wasn't holding my breath, waiting for the next person who might even vaguely injure themselves. 

"What is this all for?" Gerard tilted his head and studied me, writing something down on one sheet of paper and continuing to sketch on another.

"Brendon, you're a vampire now. Nobody just adjusts overnight," he said calmly, as if he'd done this a thousand times. I nodded and stopped pacing, sitting down opposite him. "I want you to tell be how you're feeling." I opened my mouth to speak but he raised a hand. "Not physically. We'll get to that later. Emotionally and mentally." I swallowed and stared at him warily.

"I...uh...I...don't know." Surprisingly, Gerard smiled.

"Go on."

"It's like I feel nothing and everything all at the same time. I'm sad and I'm happy and I don't know why. I'm insanely angry and then ecstatically joyful for no reason. I keep...hearing things, little whispers in the corners of my mind like someone's talking to me inside my head. I don't understand it." I glanced at him he tucked his pencil behind his ear and studied my face for a moment.

"You're sired by a line of psychics, that means you'll be able to hear people's thoughts, see their memories if you try hard enough. It'll probably start small and then build up either very suddenly or over a longer period of time. The voices are the beginning. You'll need to learn to control it. There was a man I met once, the grandson of a psychic vampire, gifted with certain abilities, particularly the psychic power. He never learned to control it and it drove him into a locked psychiatric ward." A shiver went over my spine. "What else?"

"I'm hungry. All the time. I've never been really, properly starving before but this is like I haven't eaten in days. And I feel - not insanely lively. Kind of how I felt when I was on the drugs for my ADHD." Gerard nodded and picked up a different colour pencil.

"It's the blend. Patrick's missing something. I don't know what it is but there's something else needed. Do you know why vampires have to drink human blood?" I shook my head. "We - you can't get vitamin D from sunlight. A vampire's adrenaline glands also are non-functional, that's the reason behind how slow your heartbeat is and how lazy you feel when you haven't eaten, even if you're starving. The fangs, the eyes, it's all so that vampires can scare their prey because fear releases adrenaline. All of that is in human blood which is why vampires drink it. It can be done in other ways, through supplements and other things, but it's riskier than blood. I'm not sure Patrick has the quantities right. I'll talk to him later about it." I nodded. "Potentially, the lack of adrenaline doesn't affect you as much because the ADHD means they cancel each other out."

"Well, I don't like it. I've gotten used to the constant energy - the hyper-focus or the hyper-awareness - and this whole vampire thing is really screwing with it all." Gerard smirked and it made me smile a little.

"And physically?"

"Full of energy and exhausted at the same time. I guess it's kind of part of the whole adrenaline thing." Gerard shrugged and smiled, picking up another colour. 

"So. I came across a fanfiction the other day." I raised an eyebrow. It seemed our previous topic of conversation had come to an end.

"Oh yeah?"

"They were writing about which band has the biggest diva. It was decided that it was either between me and Mikey or you." I pulled a face as if I was offended.

"How dare they?!" I burst out giggling, unable to keep a straight face. "Seriously though. Some of the fanfics are messed up." Gerard threw me a look which said _'Tell me about it.'_ I smiled and studied him for a moment. "How come you know so much about vampires?" He frowned.

"I'm a half-breed. It's in my blood." I raised an eyebrow. 

"Remind me what that is again?" He frowned.

"No one told you?" I shrugged and shook my head. "We're half human, half vampire. Where you have two sets of fangs, we have one," he said, and I saw a single set of fangs flick down over his canines. "We have red eyes too, but only the iris." His eyes flashed red to emphasize the point. "In all honesty, it's probably why you don't mind opening up to me. You'd be the same with Mikey and Frank and Ray - who, by the way is a lot older than he looks." 

"How much?"

"Two hundred and something. He stopped counting." My eyebrows flicked up.

"So all of MCR are half-breeds?"

"Uh huh. The fanfiction on that front is not as far off as they might think." He smiled in a way which was minorly creepy. A thought crossed my mind and I frowned.

"But, I thought vampires couldn't get drunk." Gerard looked up at me slowly.

"You can't. And it takes a lot more than a five or ten beers to get a half-breed drunk." I frowned.

"Then how...?" He closed his eyes for a moment.

"It wasn't just alcohol. Half-breeds feel the same need for blood that vampires do. Some of us become hunters, adapted to drinking vampire blood instead. I never did that, I still wanted human blood, still drank it, not too much, just a little here and there. But it got heavier. I stopped because I'd gone overboard. You're not the only one who's killed people, Brendon." My stomach dropped. Gerard? But he was kind and compassionate and willing to listen, not the sort of person you could ever imagine killing someone.

"How? How did you get clean?"

"Bucketloads of coffee. Caffeine - that does work on us, thank god. Coffee, chocolate and my band. We helped each other."

"Caffeine but not alcohol?" Gerard shrugged and pulled a face.

"No idea. That would be an excellent question for whoever made vampires in the first place."


	15. 15:49, 30th July 2009 - Pete

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

I'd learned my lesson.

Luka had allowed me to heal, eventually, a little bit at a time. I was grateful. I hadn't told him about the concerts yet and I had only a couple of days until the next one - until we were supposed to be on tour. I wasn't sure how he would react, but it would not be good. 

I was lying in bed that afternoon, slowly waking up despite it being early in the afternoon. Luka appeared in the doorway. "Can I come in?" I nodded and swallowed. "Where were you? The ninth and the fifteenth. You were missing. Where were you?" I swallowed again and stared at him. He wouldn't back down so I sighed and sat up.

"At concerts."

"With Fall Out Boy?" I nodded and his hand connected with the side of my face at speed, leaving a faint red imprint which faded after a few seconds. "You know they don't care about you. You know they hate what you are. Why would you go to them over me?"

"I know. I hate them as much as they hate me, but there was something pulling me towards them. The fans maybe. A sense of duty and responsibility. They were promised a tour from all of Fall Out Boy, not just three-quarters of it. I've not really spoken to them. I just turned up for the show, played and left." Luka swallowed and I could see the controlled rage behind his glowing red eyes.

"And when is the next show?" 

"A tour. Most of August, the last two weeks of September, the beginning of October and one in December but that's it. After that we're done. The band is falling apart anyway," I said with a smirk. He seemed irritated but appeased by the idea of Fall Out Boy coming to an end.

"Ending?"

"Hiatus. But without me, they might as well be finished." Luka smiled.

"Good. I need you focused. It'll never work if you're not focused on the plan." I nodded.

"I know. I am focused on you. Playing the shows is second nature. I've done it enough times before that it's just muscle memory."

"Okay." He stared at me momentarily. "Tonight. Later. Will you be ready? To hunt?" I nodded.

"Yes." He seemed skeptical but he nodded.

"You're one of the best hunters I've got and I need you," he said softly, gently and then his voice changed, harsh and dark and terrifying, "but if you ever do that again, I will not hesitate to punish you, whether that involves de-fanging or something else. Understand?" 

"Yes." He studied me for a minute, the darkness behind his eyes holding my gaze. It disappeared in instants and he was happy again.

"Good." He glanced at the clock - 4pm. "Seven hours. Get some more sleep. I'll bring you a drink before we leave." I nodded and lay back down. Luka's presence in the doorway meant I didn't immediately fall asleep, but when he left, I lay awake for almost an hour, thinking things over. Fall Out Boy didn't care about me and I was better off without them, but there was a nagging doubt in the corner of my mind, a tug towards them that I couldn't explain. I sighed and turned over, closing my eyes against the world and trying to fall asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

**17:52, 30th July 2009 - Gerard**

I folded my arms and leaned against the wall. This was the first time we were all gathered in one place - all of us except Pete. Brendon seemed skittish and I could see why; The humans were all armed, all carrying weapons which they wouldn't hesitate to use and even I could sense the raw emotions which were rolling off them, leaving a metallic tang in the air. Dallon was speaking as I tuned into the conversation again. "We don't even know where their headquarters are. Besides, if what you say is true, then Luka has tens if not hundreds of thousands of vampires under his command." Andy's knee jiggled up and down where he sat on the sofa.

"I told you. It's true. Alex confirmed it. And I agree, we need more time to plan and prepare. Especially if MCR can't join us," Andy said, straining to remain calm and composed despite the situation.

"We can't. The shows are already booked. We're performing for the next two nights and then both of you are away on tour. Listen, while your away, we'll canvas - we'll search all of LA if we have to, just as long as we find their HQ. But, we won't do anything until you get back. You only have four weeks to get through and I'm sure Pete will turn up for the shows. Try and get as much information as you can from him," I told Patrick. He nodded but I glanced at Brendon. He was doing alright given the circumstances - which were less than ideal. "Brendon. You have to stay away from Pete, as much as you can." Dallon frowned at me, as did a few of the others.

"Why?" Spencer asked.

"The psychic sire bond. Right now, Pete could ask Brendon to do basically anything and Brendon would do it."

"But he wouldn't. Pete wouldn't push Brendon like that," Patrick said, though he didn't quite seem convinced.

"Maybe not when he's with you but with Luka manipulating him, I wouldn't be too sure of that. He could just as easily break into your minds and control any one of you." A few of the humans flinched at the thought. Ray scratched his head thoughtfully, pulling his hair out of his face.

"I might be able to help with that." I frowned, confused. "Theoretically, it is possible for a psychic to wrap a protective blanket layer around other people's minds. If Brendon could do that, he might be able to protect you from any psychic attacks Pete might send your way."

"Might?" Spencer asked.

"Yes. The only problem with it is that protecting the five of you could wear Brendon's energy thin and if Pete was to attack psychically at full force, Brendon's mind could crack." We were all staring at Ray now. "It wouldn't end well. But if Pete was only to try probing your minds for information, Brendon could keep his head out of yours." Everyone turned to Brendon. If he had enough power to protect five humans from a psychic vampire, he could save a lot of lives. Brendon swallowed and opened his mouth to speak but Dallon interrupted him.

"Are you out of your mind? You just said this could lead to his mind cracking. What does that even mean?" Ray rubbed his forehead and glanced at Brendon who seemed equally eager to know.

"It's bad. I don't know. I could hazard a guess... Most likely? Brain damaged or comatose. Certainly not able to function without help for even the most basic things." Silence fell over the room. I could hear all of our hearts pounding as we waited for someone to say something. The idea of Brendon being able to protect his friends held a certain allure, but it was risky and if things went wrong, it would be a huge price to pay.

"I'll do it," Brendon said calmly, his breathing and his heartbeat steady. Dallon and Spencer stood up from where they leaned against the wall.

"Hell no. I'm sorry B, but you do not get a say in this," Dallon said hastily. Brendon shot to his feet.

"The hell I don't. I'm doing this." Brendon took a step forward but Dallon blocked his path, his arm flat against Brendon's chest. 

"No," Spencer said from just behind Dallon. Brendon's eyes flashed red, warning his bandmates and best friends to move. "No Brendon." In instants, Dallon was on the ground, his arm pinned behind his back, Brendon's fangs bared as he hissed. Spencer and Fall Out Boy reached for weapons but Brendon's fangs retracted and his breathing slowed. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to regain composure.

"I'm doing it. I have to protect my friends, no matter the cost." A part of me admired him for wanting to do this, something I didn't think he - or anyone - would volunteer for, at least not in real life. But another part of me wanted to protect him because I could sense the despair and anger and sadness rolling off him. Despite what everyone had said, he seemed to think his life didn't matter but I could see why. I swallowed. It wasn't my decision to make. The entire room was staring at Brendon, the humans too uncomfortable to say anything since even they could see his face rapidly flickering through emotions. Ray stood up from the wall.

"Okay. Push the furniture back. I'm going to draw a star on the floor. Patrick, Joe, Andy, Dallon and Spencer, you need to sit at the five points, Brendon, you need to sit in the middle." I helped Mikey and Frank push the furniture out of the way while Ray drew the star shape, five strange symbols in each of the points. Mikey and Frank sat next to me, their feet also on the seat of the sofa.

"You think he can do it?" Frank asked. I shrugged.

"I don't know. I hope so. But there's a niggling doubt in my stomach which is refusing to settle." Mikey stared at the five humans as they took their seats.

"Me too. God, if this works..." Frank and I glanced at him.

"He'll be freaking powerful as hell. _IF_ it works." We watched as Brendon took his seat facing Patrick, Dallon and Spencer on either side of him, Joe and Andy behind him. Ray took Brendon's hands, placing Brendon's fingers on either side of Patrick's head near his temples.

"Everyone close your eyes and link hands. Brendon, you need to focus on Patrick's mind, try and make a bridge over the gap between your minds. Imagine them fusing together. Once you've connected with Patrick, reach out and connect with Dallon and then the others." A heavy silence hung over us as Brendon focused. Frank and Mikey stared at me as my heart beat a little faster. Patrick's face shifted slightly. "Patrick, stop fighting Brendon." Patrick stopped. In instants, his eyes flew open, the irises lit up the same blood red as Brendon's eyes. He was quickly followed by Dallon, then Spencer, then Joe and Andy. Five sets of glowing red eyes stared upwards and then snapped shut as they broke apart. Brendon opened his eyes, except they were different, flecked with the blue hues of the five human's eyes. "It's done." Brendon stood up, flicking blue eyes over the his friends and disappearing through the doorway without saying a word. I frowned, glancing quickly at the others and following him out, down into the basement.

"They're so loud."

"You have to shut them out." Brendon fell silent. "You can do this Brendon."

"Can I? I mean, its messy in my own head but this is...chaos." I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to imagine.

"Okay, so separate them. Put them into little boxes. Tell me what Patrick's head feels like." Brendon swallowed and paced, frowning deeply.

"It's beautiful. Vibrant with colour and light and constantly playing music. There's a layer of doubt over the top and a layer of darkness beneath but it's still beautiful." I nodded. 

"And the others?" He described each of their minds to me and I noticed him slowly beginning to calm down, putting each of their minds behind doors. When he finished, his brown eyes were still flecked with five shades of blue but he was calmer, able to focus. His breathing and heartbeat had slowed back to what they should be. He picked up a guitar and a pick, strumming chords.

"Want to practice?" I smiled and swallowed.

"Not just now. I need to get some sleep and then I need to practice with my band. Maybe one day we can do a collab. I'd like that." Brendon smiled shyly, just a little, as if he were afraid to be happy.

"Me too." I nodded and hugged him quickly, heading upstairs to collect the rest of my band and head to our rehearsal space to get a few hours practice in before the following night. The two bands still plagued my thoughts but I shook them off and attempted to focus again. Brendon would be fine.


	16. 13th August 2009 - Dallon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CINCINNATI, OHIO in the early hours of the morning after the show in Hershey, Pennsylvania

Tour had begun.

True to his word, Pete had turned up for all of the shows, disappearing at the end almost immediately after we had finished playing. We'd played eight shows already, but we had a ton more coming up in the next few days and our next break wasn't until the seventeenth and even that was only one day. All six of us - including Brendon - were sleep deprived but we didn't have time to catch up on the sleep we had missed, not when so much was at stake. Brendon was suffering the most, though he tried not to show it. The mental energy he was putting into maintaining the shields around our minds was far outweighing his consumption of the blend, which was no longer working. When he wasn't sleeping, he was prowling around, constantly hungry. It was beginning to set all of us on edge. Fortunately, he slept between fourteen and sixteen hours a day, performing up to two hours a night, plus practice time and interviews and the schedule didn't leave a lot of time for distractions. When there was nothing to do, he would sit and attempt to play computer games to take him mind off things. It was strange, being able to feel when he was angry or happy or sad or just plain exhausted. And it wasn't just him; he'd linked us all together, our minds forming a web which meant we could feel each others minds almost constantly.

Tonight's show had been particularly draining, the crowd was raucous to the point of being uncontrollable and it had taken its toll on all of us. I couldn't sleep in the heat of the early hours of the morning - and it was for that reason that I saw Brendon leave. As much as sleep had not yet claimed me, tiredness had sunken too far in for me to follow him, so I headed to bed, tossing and turning while I waited for sleep to come. My thoughts drifted to the show - to Pete. Patrick, Joe, Andy, Spencer and I had tried to keep him around after shows for as long as possible to get as much information as we could, but so far, we had found nothing. As my thoughts wandered further, I found myself staring at an empty alley - not through my eyes but through Brendon's.

_"I didn't think you'd show up." Brendon whirled and a man came into view, nothing more than a figure in black jeans and a black leather jacket, a shadow, a smudge against the midnight sky. The street lamp flickered ominously as the man dropped from the roof of a building, landing in such a way that should have splintered his shins. He sauntered casually toward brendon, light finally spilling over his face. Pete._

_"Why not?"_

_"Because. There are five...humans," he practically spat the word through his teeth, fangs glinting in the light, "trying to cage you." Brendon closed his eyes momentarily._

_"They're not. They love us Pete. Unconditionally. You know that, somewhere deep down." Pete stared critically at Brendon._

_"Is that why they're starving you?" Brendon growled slightly, dropping his stance to get a better footing in case the conversation turned into a fight._

_"They're not. At least, it's not their fault."_

_"It's easy to say that now, isn't it. Especially when they're far away and you can't hear their thoughts, can't hear the blood pumping through their veins." Brendon swallowed and studied Pete, noting how casual he seemed._

_"Stop it. Pete. Please, come on. Snap out of this! You don't owe Luka a thing. He doesn't own you. How can you keep running back to him like a wounded animal?" Pete was in front of Brendon in instants, his hand wrapped around Brendon's neck, pinning him to the wall._

_"Because he's my sire. I owe him my life so yeah, he does own me." Brendon twisted against Pete, using his extra three inches of height to his advantage._

_"Dammit Pete! No! He's the one who stole your life in the first place." Pete, it seemed, was unable to come up with an answer._

_"You can't accept that I chose him over you, can you? Maybe I can convince you. Come with me. Join the clan. Luka will take you in." Brendon snarled fully this time, warning Pete off._

_"Never!" Pete returned the snarl, disappearing momentarily and reappearing with a woman, a knife biting into her neck._

_"Come on Brendon. Come with me." Brendon stared at him with wary eyes. Pete's demeanor changed so suddenly that it was impossible to follow. "Fine. I'm hungry." In moments, the knife was discarded and Pete's fangs were buried in the girls neck. Brendon turned away, his eyes lighting up red in the shop window he turned to face. He swallowed, fighting the metallic scent of the girl's blood in the air, the tang at the back of his throat. Pete pulled away from the girl's neck, blood dripping down his chin, dark under the dim alley light. "Why are you fighting this Brendon? It's who you are. Give in." Brendon turned in time to see Pete grin manically, eyes wild as he let the girl fall to the ground. In one second, he was wiping a drop off blood from the girl's neck with one finger, the next, he'd drawn it over Brendon's lips. Without restraint or control, Brendon dove for the body on the ground, fangs sinking into her neck. He felt his muscles relax and then strengthen, everything became so, so clear, his energy grew and with it, his control. He pulled away, shock and anguish crossing his face in equal measures._

_"What did you do to me?" Pete grinned._

_"Nothing. Just gave you a little push. You needed blood and I gave it to you. Now please, come with me." Brendon gave Pete a sorrowful look and burst into a full out sprint back towards the tour bus._

The door burst open, waking both Spencer and I. Brendon appeared, slamming on the lights. We all winced as they flickered to life, recoiling at Brendon's appearance. His hair was a mess, his clothes covered in a faint spattering of blood, the same as the blood which coated his mouth and chin. His eyes still glowed red, his fangs still glinted in the light. Spencer picked up the nearest dagger, just in case. Brendon waved a hand and stumbled back out of the tour bus. I waved a hand at Spencer. "Get the others. And tell them to bring weapons." He nodded and disappeared towards the second and third tour buses parked just behind ours, one housing Andy and Joe, the other where Patrick and Brendon stayed. Why he'd come to us instead of Patrick, I didn't know. As it turned out, the psychic bond had sent waves of Brendon's panic towards the others and they were already awake. They appeared outside in their pyjamas just as Brendon fell to his hands and knees. We waited as he threw up around two pints of blood before collapsing to the floor either asleep or unconscious. He woke after a few minutes, panting as he sat up, kneeling next to the pool of blood. None of us had any idea what to say. Our emotions and thoughts were tied to and mixed with his, there wasn't anything we could say that he didn't already know. But I knew one thing; kneeling on the ground, trying his best to protect his best friends from danger all while being drained and exhausted, he needed his friends, not people who would criticise him for making the wrong choice. I handed my knife to Spencer and moved forward, hands open, extended in front of me so he could see I wouldn't try to hurt him, the same way you might approach a wounded animal. He collapsed into my shoulder and I picked him up, following Patrick into their trailer and putting Brendon down on his bed.

"I'm sorry. Pete...I...please don't hate me." I swallowed but Patrick spoke before I could.

"We don't Brendon. Don't worry. We're here." Tears rolled down his face but the utter exhaustion had taken enough of a toll that he was out in minutes. Patrick and I wandered outside to join the others.

"What the hell?" Joe said bluntly. I yawned but I had to agree.

"He said something about Pete. I had a dream, he was with Pete and a young woman and Pete drained her and then...what?" The four others were staring at me with wide eyes. "Same dream?" They nodded.

"Not a dream. Psychic projection of Brendon's thoughts and feelings, sights and sounds onto our subconscious appearing as a dream." We glanced at Andy, but at this point, we'd learned not to question how he knew things. But Brendon had been with Pete - that was undeniable. Fall Out Boy seemed rather more shaken and I could see why. Although Pete hadn't forced Brendon to kill that girl, he might as well have done it. He was manipulating events at least as much as we'd been told Luka would. I swallowed.

"We have to tell Brendon to stop protecting us. He can't fight Pete if he's busy throwing his energy into protecting our minds." Silence fell like a blanket. I was right and they knew it, but no one particularly liked the idea of leaving their minds open to attack. A collective shiver ran through the group and even as we split up to try and grab a semi-decent night's sleep, there was a strange sensation on the backs of our necks, as if someone was perching there, waiting for an inevitable crack in the flimsy walls Brendon had put up to protect us.


	17. 9th October 2009 - Patrick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - post tour.

It had been weeks since we’d last seen Pete outside of our tour performances - and over three months since he'd turned Brendon. When we’d arrived back after the last few shows we found traces of him all over the city, mingled with traces of the LA Clan - and that was never a good sign. The night we saw him again for the first time, he was with Luka and a female, her face unfamiliar but her appearance - beneath the darkness, underneath the crazy red bloodlust of her eyes and the dyed black hair and the skin turned pale from lack of sunlight - was striking and admittedly, somewhat alluring. 

The back alley pulsed with tension, the early october air heavy. A deep, bone-chilling fog had begun to set in, dampening our clothes and altogether worsening our mood. The silence which had fallen deafened us. Ten hunters stood facing three vampires. Ten hunters would have been more than a match for three sentry-level vampires, but these were not just sentries. They were the Alpha of the West Coast and two of his Betas. The odds were not in our favour.

MCR had gathered intel on the enemy while we'd been away, but, as promised, they hadn't made a move. Luka tilted his head, studying us as if we were nothing more than insects to be crushed. Pete wandered forwards into the light from a nearby window and my eyes darted over him - as did everyone else's - taking in his glowing red eyes and his hair, or lack thereof since he'd had it shaved at the last show. He appeared unharmed, happy even. Plain white t-shirt, black leather jacket, navy blue jeans. He seemed...cared for. The thought did not sit well. All in all, he seemed normal, well, as normal as Pete could be. Yet there was something off, something which the four half-breeds sensed, their demeanor shifting subtly. The insignia on Pete's wrist caught the light and it reminded me of a brand or a tag, as if Pete were somehow Luka's property. The prospect made my blood boil.

With one hand, Pete flicked nine of us out of the way, pinning us against the walls and moving forward at vampire speed. It was definitely a new power. Or perhaps is wasn't, perhaps it was one which had developed with careful training of his psychic ability. Not knowing was infuriating. He smiled at Brendon. “You’re stronger,” Pete remarked, taking hold of Brendon’s wrist, feeling his slow pulse. Brendon studied him, sadness filling his eyes.

“Pete. We have work to do,” Luka's voice cleaved the gathering fog like a knife. Pete grinned cruelly and waved the fingers of one hand in a dismissive gesture. It was the first few words we heard Luka speak. His voice was cool, almost ice cold, cultured with a hint of an accent, two accents - English and...Italian if I had to guess. It fitted his looks. His dark, jet black hair and tanned skin - somewhat lighter than what it would have been when he was human - were expected, but the silver glint of his eyes threw off any attempt at placing him in either country. He looked young too, younger than Pete despite the fact he was not far away from being five hundred years old - a fact Alex had discovered while we were away.

“One moment.” Pete’s hand lifted, running his fingers down the sharp line of Brendon’s jaw. Then, I wasn’t entirely sure of what happened. Luka moved forward faster than possible and hit Pete so hard that he fell to his knees, the impact reverberating through the ground. I wanted to move towards him, to protect my friend, but Pete took the hit without flinching, without fighting, without the usual bright spark inside flaring.

“When I say we have to go, Pete, it means we have to go. You are mine, remember your place,” Luka reprimanded, harsh and gentle at the same time. Pete remained on the ground, eyes downcast as Luka turned his attention to Brendon. “He is a fine specimen, I will give you that. You would like him with you.” Pete nodded, slight desperation clouding in his eyes. “I think that can be arranged.” Ice danced in Luka’s eyes, cold fire opposite the burning flame of life Brendon carried inside - the flame which Pete also used to carry. Luka placed a finger under Brendon's chin, lifting ever-so-slightly to look directly into his eyes. “Brendon, join us. You don’t belong with them. They want to restrain you, cage you, I can give you so much more. You’ll never have to hide with us. We will never punish you just for being who you are.” His voice was soft, gentle, pretty words laced with poison. Brendon glanced at us, two forces battling inside him before he dropped to his knees. Luka grinned and cut into his palm, making a T shape on Brendon’s forehead and nose. He closed his eyes and his back arched before sucking in a long breath, glowing red eyes flicking open, wicked fangs clicking into place.

Luka smiled and wandered over to us as his hand began to heal. Pete's power somehow still held us in place against the wall. “So. You’re the hunters who tried to cage my children." He studied us critically, unphased by the multitude of weapons which had been discarded on the ground. "Well, that was a very bad idea. Because, you see, I’ve released Pete and Brendon from having to hide who they are.” He smiled and whistled sharply, calling Brendon and Pete over. The two of them were wild, feral, their eyes glowing, their fangs bared. He snapped his fingers at Pete. “Release them.” The hold on us released instantaneously and Luka smiled again, revealing sharp fangs, still surprisingly white, despite their age. “Enjoy your meal boys.” With that, Luka turned, disappearing into the shadows which appeared from the silent female next to him. Brendon and Pete moved towards us and a shiver of fear ran down my spine, something I'd never felt before, not around Pete, not around my best friend. We had no weapons; they were discarded metres away - and we were basically helpless without them. We could fight with our fists, but we were no match for two hungry, psychic vampires.

From nothing and nowhere, a blade flew out of the mist, plunging itself deep into Pete’s shoulder, making him stagger into Brendon. Three feminine figures appeared, the gathering fog swirling and drifting around them in wisps. Each one wore a heavy looking cloak which hid their bodies and outlined at least four blades on each of their bodies, if not more. Elegant but practical masks and the shadows of their cloak hoods hid their faces. Their only visible features were eyes glowing pale blue from the darkness and a long dagger in one hand, shorter knives in their other hands. The blades glowed as flames flickered along the edges. Celestial blades. Actual, real live celestial blades - the only type of weapon which would kill our friends dead in seconds if it punctured their hearts. Brendon pulled the dagger out of Pete’s shoulder and they ran at full speed, disappearing in instants as the dagger clattered to the ground. The strange females cursed, retrieving their dagger and disappearing into the night after the two vampires. 

It took hours - or at least it felt like it - for us to regain some form of coherence. We'd lost yet another member of our entourage. Dallon and Spencer looked exhausted and defeated and distraught. They slid down the wall, sitting on the ground, grief clouding them like the rapidly closing fog. I turned to Ray. "Who was the woman?"

"Elle. Luka's mate and most trusted advisor. She's also psychic but it's unknown what other power she possesses." A straight answer for once. Tonight, it seemed, was not the night for dancing around the truth.

"And the people in the mist?" The members of MCR glanced at each other, some internal debate happening in the silence. I swallowed and opened my mouth, but Frank cut in.

"Demi-breeds. The direct opposite of what we are. Half celestial, half human. Their blades..." Frank didn't continue.

"Celestial blades. We've heard of them," Joe cut in.

"Yes, well, you'll know they can kill vampires in under a minute. That puts all of us, especially us," Gerard said, gesturing to himself and the other members of his band, "at high risk. We'll fight for Pete as much as we can, but with demi-breeds around, it'll be a lot more complicated." The range of varied expressions, from numbness and shock to rage and anguish was visible on all our faces. Luka had taken Brendon. And there had been nothing we could have done to stop it.

We barely managed to pick up our stuff and make it home before collapsing from fear and shock.


	18. 24th October 2009 - Joe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

If Luka knew we'd escaped, he didn't show it. There were no attacks on our home, no revenge distributed, no retribution taken. Nothing but radio silence. It was too quiet.

Patrick spent every waking moment thinking about how Luka could be using any number of methods to torture Pete and Brendon - physically, mentally and emotionally. What hurt him most is that we knew that both of our friends could be in agony while we were sitting doing nothing.

Well, not nothing. All of our energy was thrown into finding our friends, leaving the members of MCR to prowl the streets at night, taking out any vampires who dared cross their paths. They were just as pissed about Luka stealing Brendon and Pete away as we were, but even they hadn't discovered the location of Luka's hideout - or the headquarters of the LA clan. Besides, even if they had discovered it, Luka was Alpha not just of the city of LA, but the county of Los Angeles, the state of California and the West Coast of America. Security would be almost impenetrable.

A storm was coming - not just in the weather, though that was on its way too - and not knowing what it might bring was beginning to pull at the already frayed edges of our nerves. Three fights broke out between us in two weeks. We had only one more concert booked this year and then it was beginning to become blatantly obvious that we needed a break. Patrick and Pete had talked about it several times. Even if we did manage to get Pete back, there was no way we were going to be able to continue as we had been. We were all creatively wiped out, we needed time to get our heads together and find...something. Inspiration maybe.

The weather closed in, lightning cracking the sky open. Rain poured down, soaking through anyone who dared to go outside in instants. Of course, the vampires relied on that to keep the hunters away. The rain would wash away the blood they left on roads and paths and in back alleys.

It was on the third night of heavy rain and flashes of light across the sky that the members of MCR turned up on our doorstep. The rain had washed most of the blood off, but the traces lingered on their skin. They stumbled down to the basement, hauling a fifth figure behind them while we waited in the living room for them to reappear and explain everything. Frank leaned against the doorframe, Gerard and Mikey on the sofa and ray hovered in the corner of the room. No one seemed inclined to speak.

"What happened?" Joe asked calmly, though his voice was strained. Silence.

"We had a run in with our favourite vampires. It didn't go well." I waved a hand for Gerard to continue. Instead Frank spoke.

"It didn't go well? You nearly got yourself torn in two Gerard. What were you thinking?" I hadn't realised until then that Alex had been hovering close to Ray. Her eyes glowed green and she studied Gerard for a moment. He winced and lifted the tattered edges of his shirt. A series of harsh cuts, long, deep and jagged, peppered his torso, bite marks mixed into the skin which was still intact. He screwed his eyes shut momentarily and breathed steadily.

"I'm fine. Give me a needle and some thread and I'll be good to go." We remained silent, each one of us studying him.

"Alex..." She nodded and moved forwards, her short knife already drawing a line across her wrist. Gerard snarled.

"No. Stay away from me. I'm not going there again. Give me a damn needle already." I glanced at Ray and the others. Wounded like this, even with his enhanced half-breed healing, it would be at least a week or two before he could be out on the streets again. Ray stood up from the wall.

"Hold him," he said calmly, moving forward in instants and pushing Gerard's shoulders down. Each of us helped pin him down while Alex dropped a few drops of her blood into the wounds, holding her hands over them until they were healed over and nothing more remained than a few fragile, jagged pink scars. We released him and he sat up, his nose wrinkling into a snarl.

"I was fine! What did you expect me to do? Let my brother die?"

"Mikey is more than capable of taking care of himself," Frank argued. Gerard snarled softly and fell silent. Ray sighed.

"The point is, we managed to capture a vampire. We think she's a Sentinel so she might not know very much, but we can try and get the information out of her."

"Hang on, what's a Sentinel?"

"Vampire clans have ranks. The Alpha is at the top, followed by his or her Betas or Seconds. Then there are the guardians, usually turned directly by the alpha, highly trained and some of the older members of the clan, they are the elite guard. They are in command of the warriors, who rank just above sentinels. There are also the hunters who are responsible for providing food and the shadows, designed to blend in with their environment, they are the ones who work in hospitals or as whatever the clan needs them to be. The shadows have different abilities; any light and shadows which are already in existence, they can bend and manipulate them to use a glamour illusion on themselves and others. The rest of the clan are sentinels, average vampires, the newer turned and the less experienced. They can still put up one hell of a fight, but they aren't as highly trained as the warriors. When you've killed before, it will have been hunters or sentinels since the warriors rarely leave the Alpha and the shadows are far too good at blending in to be noticed by novice hunters." 

Alex scribbled down everything Ray said into her notebook. It was how she had been keeping track of information. One notebook for everything which was vampire related, one for celestials and on and on. It resulted in a shelf full of A5 notebooks filled with page after page, line after line of neat handwriting. She wasn't the only one who kept a notebook. Patrick had an A4 one filled with scribbles and sketches, strangely reminiscent of his musical notebook, except this one had a profile picture of Pete on the front and his full name and profile written out in Patrick's scrawled handwriting. A similar notebook for Brendon was often seen lying around, either Dallon or Spencer maintained it, but I wasn't sure which of them it was.

It seemed after Ray's speech, none of us were entirely sure what to say. I glanced at Ray. "Can you and Frank try and find out where the base is?" Ray nodded and disappeared through the door with Frank in tow. "As for the rest of us... I've had enough. Of the moping and the whining and the arguing. Pull yourselves together. Pete and Brendon are out there somewhere and if we don't find them, some other hunter will and they will have no qualms about putting an end to our best friends." People murmured apologies and I sighed. "Thank you. Now, I suggest that we..." The doorbell rang with a violent ferocity. Patrick stood up and answered it, a figure in black storming past him. Dripping water onto the carpet, the figure pulled down their hood, revealing a painfully familiar face. Braeden.

Patrick swallowed. "Braeden. Why are you here?" The hunter remained silent, his usually blue eyes dark and stormy, the same shade as the sky outside, the same shade as the roiling sea only a few miles away.

"You know why I'm here."

"Elenor." Patrick's voice was sad but Braeden bristled at her name said out loud and I figured out what was in his eyes. Pure unrestrained rage.

"You let her die! You let your friend, a vampire," he spat the words out, the promise of violence glimmering in his eyes, "kill her. You. Let. My. Sister. Die." Patrick stood up.

"I know. And we'll pay for that."

"Yes. You will," he said, ripping two axes from their sheaths on his back and launching forward. Patrick dropped out of the way, rolling to the side as Mikey and Gerard stood instantaneously, grabbing his arms and twisting them behind his back. 

"Braeden, calm down." Gerard warned. His head twisted, eyes narrowing as he dropped one axe, twisting his arm free and catching the weapon before it even had time to hit the floor, swinging it so that the flat side connected with Mikey's temple, dropping him to the ground like a stone. Unconscious. Gerard dropped his grip and went to his brother, watching a trickle of blood run down his face. I locked eyes with Patrick, flicking them to the others in the room, to Dallon and Spencer who despite their hunter training and experience, looked terrified, to Andy and Alex, whose faces echoed similar expressions and finally to the door. Patrick nodded and ushered the others out while I refocused on the fight in front of me, attempting to find the best place to break it up. Gerard was pissed. He flicked his fangs into place, his irises lighting up red. Unfortunately, Braeden was too angry to stop, even as Gerard delivered a swift, solid punch to his solar plexus and he dropped to his knees coughing as he attempted to breathe properly again. I skirted the edge of the room, crouching next to the still-unconscious Mikey. That blow and the fall would have left a human with a severe concussion, but as a half-breed, Mikey would be fine. Probably. I refocused on the fight just as Braeden landed a punch to Gerard's gut followed swiftly by an elbow to the midpoint of his spine which sent him sprawling across the room and into the wall. Ordinarily, my bet would have been on Gerard; as a half-breed he had superiority in speed, strength, stamina, senses and more. But, he'd only returned from hunting around twenty minutes before and although Alex's blood was miraculous in its ability to heal, it wasn't instantaneous. His wounds were still fragile, they needed at least a couple of days to fully heal. Braeden, well, we weren't entirely sure what he was, but it meant that he was twice as fast and strong as a human. And he had rage on his side - an emotion we'd found could either enhance our ability to fight or cloud or judgement and hinder us. I hoped it was the latter. 

Gerard stood up slowly, blood beginning to trickle through his white t-shirt. The wounds hadn't had enough time to heal. Braeden held his axes loosely, watching Gerard, his eyes cold and calculating, the opposite of the raw hate and rage from a few minutes before. Braeden was renowned for being good at honing his anger into something which benefited him instead of hindering his judgement. "You're not my priority right now. Get out of my way." Gerard flicked his eyes to his brother and then to me.

"No Braeden. You're a good hunter. The world needs you. Go. Leave Pete and Brendon to us. They're our responsibility and we'll deal with it." Braeden cracked his neck, eyes fixing on Gerard. At the edges of my vision, a pair of eyes flicked open, red irises glowing. Mikey. 

"No." Braeden said simply. I took two steps back into the wall as Braeden launched forward, knocking Gerard to the ground. Mikey leapt, wrapping his legs around Braeden's waist and his arms around Braeden's neck as they tumbled over each other, coming to a stop with Mikey above Braeden. He delivered a blow which knocked the hunter unconscious and I breathed a sigh of relief which caught in my throat. Gerard had an axe buried in the floor millimetres from his head, while Mikey had one lodged in the gap between his ribs and his pelvis. He grunted and pulled it out, dropping it to the floor well out of Braeden's reach. His hands cupped the split as blood began to pour down his side. Neither of the Way brothers were in a particularly good condition. Mikey dropped to his knees next to his brother.

"It's okay G. I've got you," he whispered, one hand under Gerard's head and the black hair spilling over the floor, the other hand holding his side together. Gerard turned his head as Mikey fell from his knees to the floor, blood dribbling from between both of their lips. 

"I'm sorry M. I'm sorry little brother."


	19. 1st December 2009 - Patrick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - Fall Out Boy  
> TAMPA, FLORIDA - Panic! At The Disco

“What are you doing here Patrick?” I froze in my tracks and swallowed, slowly turning around to find Pete sitting in the window, facing out to the deserted streets of Chicago.

“I wanted to see you Pete. We need you to come home. After the show. Please?” I heard my voice crack on the last word and winced internally.

“Why would you want me? You’ve never liked me. Never needed me. You could have had a hundred different bassists. I’m surprised you didn’t kick me out sooner.” I frowned, trying to process what he was saying.

“Pete. No one kicked you out. You left us. We need you and you left us.”

“You don’t need me. You hate me. You were the one who told me to leave and never come back.” One moment he was sitting in the window, the next, he had me pinned to the wall, my head tilted to the side, exposing the curve of my neck. I tried desperately to slow my breathing - to no avail. I stared at Pete, less than feet away. 

“Please, don’t do this,” I begged. It sounded lame and pathetic, even to me. Pete moved in a way that wasn’t remotely human, tilting his head to the side like he was an animal waiting to pounce. His fangs glinted in the weak light from the street lamps as he hissed.

“Oh, but I’m hungry Patrick. And your friends, your rescuers all those weeks ago stopped me feeding. And then, of course, Luka had to punish me. I didn’t follow his commands after all. Do you know what he did? He peeled my skin off. And I was so hungry, so starving, but he wouldn’t feed me so I didn’t heal. Then, he chained me in a corner of his throne room and made me watch while he did the same thing to Brendon. Brendon is barely past twenty-two years old. I made him a freaking vampire and then suddenly I'm responsible for him. I felt it, too, because I couldn't protect him. And you know, at first, I hated Luka for doing it. But then I realised, it was our fault. We let you escape. We could have taken those girls down and drained you and we didn't. We ran away. We deserved to be punished." He dropped me down from the wall and walked away, pacing the room. "So after he skinned Brendon, he strung us up from the roof of his throne room. For a week. We were…feral when they brought us down. And after that, he gave us a little blood. Just a small amount so we were still hungry, but it was enough to kick start our healing. That took two weeks. He’s still punishing us now you know and its been seven weeks. Yesterday, he carved out my liver.” Pete lifted the edge of his t-shirt, revealing a reddish-pink gash. “Of course, it’ll heal and I’ll grow a new one, but that wasn’t much comfort when he was doing it. All of this. For letting you escape. So, what do you think he’d do if he found out I’d let you go a second time?” I stared at Pete in horror. All of that, and Pete still seemed to think he owed Luka a debt of gratitude or something. “Do you know what the worst part is? It’s not what he does to me. It’s when he forces me to watch what he does to Brendon. Because I was responsible for Brendon, I am responsible. We’re connected in a way you can never understand and every day, Luka uses that bond to cause more emotional pain than he could ever deal out physically.”

“He’s manipulating you, Pete. Why can’t you see that? His power, he’s psychic, he can see into your head, he knows everything you’re going to do before you do it.”

“Oh Patrick. I know. But if he was manipulating me, if he was controlling me, he wouldn’t let me go to the concerts you and Joe and Andy insist upon booking.” I searched for a reason, grappled for an explanation for Luka's actions.

“Yes he would. Because somewhere at the back of your mind, you know this is wrong. You know we want you with us and you’re fighting it. He knows that. But the part of you that we love, the part that remembers what Fall Out Boy stands for, Pete, is locked away inside your subconscious, where he can’t touch. So he has to let you go so it seems that nothing is amiss. Brendon too.” Pete remained silent for a long while.

"Why? Why would he do that?" He sat slowly on the bed, facing away from me.

"I don't know. Pete, please, come home." I stared at his back, hoping my words were sinking in. Pete turned his head a little and there was a flash of red in his eyes. He shook his head as if he was trying to wake himself up and then stared at me, shock plastered across his face.

"Patrick? What are you doing? You have to leave." Pete backed away from me. I moved forward, reaching a hand out to help him.

"Pete? What's wrong?" Fear sparked in his eyes and they lit up red, his fangs descending again.

"Stay away from me!"

"Pete! Tell me what's going on." Pete stared at me, shaking violently. I frowned. Whoever he was, this Pete was not the one I had previously been speaking to.

"You have to leave before I hurt you. I can't stop it. Please Patrick, get out of here before he comes back."

"Who?" But it was too late. The red eyes flared brighter momentarily and then disappeared. Pete flung me backwards into the wall and then dropped to the ground, unconscious. Panting, I ran out of his room and sprinted as far away as I could before walking the rest of the way back to our hotel. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted Dallon and Spencer.

_'Any luck with B? Pete was...weird. Like he was two people at the same time. I don't know. Text us if you manage to get somewhere.'_

~~~~~~~~~~

**1st December 2009 - Spencer**

We'd found out where Brendon was staying. Or at least, Patrick had. Both our bands were performing tomorrow night, though not in the same location, so we were halfway across the country. Patrick had gone to see Patrick, but hadn't yet gotten in touch to tell us what was going on. We figured no news was good news for now. But there was a nagging doubt at the back of my mind that no news could also be bad news. Dallon had persuaded me to visit Brendon, so we turned up at his hotel room. Although I'd argued against taking weapons, Dallon carried a dagger under his coat. "What do you want?" Brendon's voice echoed through the door.

"To talk. We're not here to hurt you," I attempted to maintain a steady, level voice.

"Well duh, that would be suicide." Brendon opened the door in nothing but his boxers, leaving Dallon to close it as we entered. "Again, what do you want?"

"Come home. We can still fix this." Brendon raised an eyebrow.

"How exactly? I've killed people." My breath hitched and Brendon glanced at me. "I know. It's shocking! Breaking news, I'm a vampire, it's kind of in the job description."

"First of all, your job is to be a musician, species doesn't change that. Secondly, we..." Brendon shifted under the light and Dallon's voice cut through mine.

"What the hell happened?" I frowned at Dallon but studied Brendon as he glanced down at a reddish-pink gash across his chest and abdomen.

"Oh. That. Luka happened. Apparently, not killing you guys was a big no-no. Direct orders or whatever. Our punishment involved a lot of skin being peeled off and having organs cut out." I wanted to be sick. 'We', so he meant both himself and Pete. "You know, I didn't think it was possible to feel that much pain. Since Pete and I are linked and Pete went first for the skin-peeling ordeal, I felt his pain before Luka decided to peel my skin off."

"He's a psycho B! Why the hell are you still with him?" Dallon's indignance was evident.

"Because, sires and bloodlines and responsibilities and all that. And that little reminder was where Luka decided to take my lung two days ago. That hurt like hell. He took Pete's liver. Thankfully, since we're vampires, they've grown back by now."

"He takes random organs for what reason exactly?"

"Because. Luka has operatives at hospitals up and down the west coast. He can smuggle organs in which are then used in transplants or whatever. Quick, easy, efficient way to punish a rebellious vampire and create a new one at the same time." Silence fell over the room. None of us had ever thought about that. It seemed wildly ridiculous and yet at the same time, made a lot of sense. "Now. Either you came here to drag me back to LA, kicking and screaming if you have to. Or you came to kill me, which is an interesting idea. Or you really did just come to talk. So whatever you plan on doing, hurry the hell up and do it."

"We just want you to come home. We're not going to do anything to you." Brendon narrowed his eyes. One moment he was leaning against the opposite wall and then the next, he had Dallon pinned to the floor, fangs bared.

"No, you're not. Because you're both too weak. If Joe or Andy or any of MCR had come, well, that would maybe be a different story, but it's you two and well," his fangs punctured the skin on Dallon's neck, "I can taste the patheticness." As if for emphasis, he licked the droplets of blood from Dallon's neck before releasing him. "Now, either you can leave and go back to wherever you are staying and I won't tell Pete or Luka about any of this, or you can stay, I can drain both of you, then call Luka and Pete and we'll throw a party. Your choice." We hovered for a moment before Dallon opened the door, leaning in the hallway just outside. I studied Brendon.

"Come back to us. Please. Brendon, I know you're in there. I know you can fight this. Please. We love you. We need you." Brendon just stared at me with empty, cold, glowing red eyes. I swallowed and turned to leave, pausing in the doorway. "We'll be there when you need us. We're not giving up." Brendon looked between both of us and I could have sworn, for an instant, his eyes turned chocolate again, fear and hope mingled together. It was gone in an instant, replaced with dead apathy. I closed the door behind me on our way out and sighed. Dallon's phone pinged and a text from Patrick flashed up.

_'Any luck with B? Pete was...weird. Like he was two people at the same time. I don't know. Text us if you manage to get somewhere.'_

Dallon glanced at me and typed in a message: _'Same here. We have shows on the 6th but then we're done for a long while. Regroup in LA, hunters meeting on the 9th?'_ He hit send and we wandered out into the street, heading back to our trailers as we waited for a response.

_'Definitely. MCR texted to say they've been scouring everywhere but still no sign. If you can find out any more from B, that would help.'_ Dallon read it aloud and then handed his phone to me.

"You reply. I'm going to deal with my neck." I nodded and slumped down onto my bunk. _'Will do. Talk later.'_ I pressed send and sighed, grabbing a bottle from the mini-fridge. Our problems could wait until tomorrow.


	20. 14th December 2009 - Andy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

There had been nothing much to discuss when we met five days ago. Dallon and Spencer seemed to agree with Patrick that both Brendon and Pete were not okay, not one hundred percent there. Alex had been busy, away at a meeting in India, so we'd forwarded her a list of the information we'd collected. As soon as she'd arrived back last night, she'd called a meeting, which meant we were all sitting and standing in the living room, waiting for her to reveal the next big plot twist.

"From what you sent me and what we already know, I'm pretty sure this is the problem. I told you that Brendon is sired to Pete and Pete is sired to Luka. Ordinarily, breaking that bond is difficult enough, but Luka is psychic, and I think I've figured out what he's done." She rolled out a sheet of paper covered in strange symbols and writing. "When I was sixteen, I met a young vampire named Priya. We hung out a lot in the winter of 1919, up until I turned seventeen in May that year." She glanced up and realised we were all gaping. "Oh. Probably should have mentioned that. I'm a hundred and seven. How did you think I've heard of Luka?"

"Aren't you technically human?" Joe asked. 

"Kind of but not really. I get injured and ill like humans do, I just recover faster. Healers don't generally die of old age because we are constantly repairing anything inside us which breaks. My mom would have explained it better but even a healer can't recover from a headshot." She shivered. "Anyway, back to the point. We spent about four months hanging out. I helped her improve her english and she taught me to read Hindi. She eventually told me a little about the vampire world and that someone in her home country had written a lot of information down. After we went our separate ways, I didn't see her for a long time, but we reconnected about eight years ago and we've been good friends ever since. She texted me a few weeks ago saying something had been discovered in India, papers dating back four hundred years, speaking of vampires and mind control. So my 'business trip'? I went to recover the papers." We all leaned in over her shoulder to try and read what was on the parchment-like sheets. "It's in Hindi dumbasses. You can't read it. But I'll tell you what it says." Alex pulled out a notepad filled with scribbles. "I began translating it on the flight back here. The language has changed a lot in the last four hundred years but Priya taught me some of the older parts of the language so I managed to make most of it out." We studied her as she frowned at her notes.

"Here. It speaks of a vampiric creature with fangs and glowing red eyes which preyed on the people. _'Many suffered at his hands and they died. The witnesses told us to stay inside our houses after dark and those who didn't listen were found the next morning, mauled beyond recognition.'_ It goes on an on. _'So we found the children strung up from the trees, not a drop of blood in their bodies. Soon the town began seeing visions, flashes of red eyes where there were none. It is only by the grace of my healer's blood that I believe I was not subjected to the delirium. But I felt strangeness at the edges of my mind, as if someone was trying to break in.'_ Here's the interesting part. _'And I saw neighbour turn on neighbour, their memories of past friendships wiped clean as if they had never known each other, as if only their worst memories of each other remained. It was in this way that men and women were killed not by the vampire's hands, but by each other's and their own.'_ " Silence fell over the room.

"When I met with Pete, it was like he couldn't remember anything that we'd done together, any of the good parts of the last seven or eight years. He said he thought we never liked him and never needed him," Patrick rushed out. "But then, it was like his memories managed to get out. Like they were still there, just lurking under the surface and they escaped for a minute - long enough for him to try and warn me."

"And when we were with Brendon, there was a little flash in his eyes - emotion when there wasn't any before. Could that be it?" Spencer asked.

"That's how it looks," Alex replied with a heavy sigh. Gerard frowned.

"How do we break it? The mind-control, I mean." Alex studied the papers.

"I don't know. The person who wrote this just included a note at the end that everyone in the town had died. They never broke it." And again, silence descended like a blanket. "But, I've had a thought. There are other psychics, right?" 

"Yeah, why?" Ray answered.

"Well, perhaps if we find a psychic, someone powerful, they could undo it."

"Great. Does anyone happen to know an ancient, all-powerful psychic vampire who would be willing to help hunters free their vampire friends from another vampire's mind-control?" For the third time that night, quiet came over the house. 

Insane. We were completely and utterly insane.

~~~~~~~~~~

**17th December 2009 - Patrick**

As it turned out, things went a lot faster than we were ready for.

The next time we saw Pete and Brendon was only a few days after our previous meeting. We tracked them down, following kill after kill until we found them with Luka and Elle. Luka recognised us, tilting his head.

“So, you’re still alive. You know, I saw your visits, through their eyes." Luka stroked a hand over Pete and Brendon's shoulders as they stood still as predators. "Well, it looks as if we will have to rectify the situation.” He turned to Pete and Brendon who immediately dropped to their knees under his stare. “Finish them. And this time, actually get it done because if you don’t, I will find you and rip your spines out through your throats. Do you understand?” Despite the threats, his voice was honey coated. Pete and Brendon nodded docilely. Then their demeanour changed and they stood up, stalking towards us like lions chasing gazelle as Luka and Elle turned, enveloped by shadows, a maniacal grin on Luka's lips. There was nowhere for us to go, nowhere to run and hide. I stopped backing away and stood facing them, hoping they’d remember, that the parts of them we'd seen before would take over and they’d stop. They kept moving forwards, slowly. They wanted this, I realised with rising horror. They wanted to kill us.

As we gave up hope, three unfamiliar familiar figures appeared, blocking the exits and advancing towards the trapped vampires. Despite what Pete and Brendon had done over the past months, I found myself calling out. “Please don’t hurt them!” The women didn’t, but it took them less than two minutes to take down the two vampires and a vague feeling of terror trickled through my system. The girls smiled and one of them crouched over Brendon, droplets of blue-green liquid dropping into the stab wound she had made moments ago. We piled into our cars and headed back to our house in the middle of nowhere, calling Alex to join us there.

We left Brendon and Pete asleep on their beds and wandered upstairs to talk, locking the door to the basement behind us. The girls removed their hoods to reveal the detail of their masks, which they then also removed. We studied each other in mutual silence. The first woman's appearance was perhaps the most surprising, chestnut red hair tied back in a high ponytail, hazel eyes and light skin spattered with freckles. Normal, until you noticed her cat-like pupils and tabby-cat ears poking up through her hair. The second girl was mildly less stunning, dusty blonde hair pulled up in an identical ponytail, steel grey eyes which were critically surveying the rest of the room, but nothing which could be considered weird. And the third woman bore long, braided dark brown hair and pale blue-green eyes which stood out from tanned skin and long, dark eyelashes.“Who are you?”

“Why should we tell you?" The second woman asked sharply, silenced when the first elbowed her and stood up. 

"Tabby, Quinn and Celaena. We're hunters, members of the Venatores. Demi-breeds and a healer.” Alex heaved out a breath.

“Demi-breeds are the children of Celestials and humans. Equivalent, opposite counterparts to...you guys." She said, glancing at the members of MCR. "Powerful beings and damn good hunters. And the venatores? An ancient order of hunters made up of all sorts of people, originally from Italy in the seventh century.” Tabby raised an eyebrow and smiled.

“You know of the order?" Alex shrugged, but all three of the women looked impressed. "Celestials are powerful. Like vampires, type one celestials either have a shifting or elemental ability. My father was a celestial with a cat-shift.” She smiled, revealing slightly elongated canines. "Quinn’s mother was a hybrid celestial, fire and air powers. Quinn’s power is lightning and she can shift, she’s the most powerful of the three of us. And then there’s Celaena, her father was a celestial but her mother was a healer. Strong healing abilities. Stronger than your average healer.” Alex looked almost offended but I had a feeling she was more in awe. 

“That’s…nice. But why are you here?” Mikey asked.

“We were just passing through. Big hunt in Vegas on Saturday night. But these two. The world still needs them. We didn’t want them falling for Luka and Elle’s mind games. Luka’s psychic, you already knew that. But so is Elle, she’s controlling them almost as much as Luka is. We think they are two of about seven or eight left in the world, not including Pete and Brendon. They can control people’s minds and force them to do things,” Tabby said. Spencer visibly swallowed.

“Could them make another vampire turn a human?” 

“Theoretically? Yes. We’ve never seen it but I don’t see why not. Their powers work the same on everyone,” Celaena answered. Spencer glanced at me, an apology on his lips.

“So it could be that none of this is Pete’s fault.” I swallowed a sigh of relief and smiled at Spencer, probably for the first time in months.

“How do we break it?” Dallon asked.

“We don’t know. We’ve never come across a psychic in real life before. We’ve studied them though. We can tell you how their powers work. You should be able to figure something out from there,” Quinn answered.

We moved through to the dining room so we could sit around the table and have space to work. “Okay. Psychics work in a few different ways, but these guys are old, I mean, Elle’s over four hundred years old and Luka’s closer to five hundred. I’m pretty sure they’ll have dug deep into Brendon and Pete’s memories, twisting the memory that was already there until it was unrecognisable. They’ll have erased any ‘good’ memories of you so that Pete and Brendon think that they are the only ones who care.” Tabby explained. It was similar to what we'd thought at out meeting a few days ago.

“So they aren’t forcing Pete and Brendon’s loyalties?” Tabby shook her head.

“No, they can’t fake emotions and feelings, especially not loyalty. They can just manipulate their memories to reflect a scenario which paints you in a negative light. We have a phone number and an address for a powerful psychic who might be able to help with this situation. A female, she’s supposed to be over six hundred years old, a good woman. Try her.” My mind whirled. Pete and Brendon were doing Luka’s bidding of their own free will. But, I reasoned, they were not in possession of the memories which would save them. A cold fire ran through my veins at the thought of Luka manipulating two of my best friends into thinking that there was no one who cared about them as much as he did.

“Why don’t we just hunt Luka down ourselves and put one of those pretty flaming blades through his heart?” Tabby glanced at Spencer. We could all feel him quietly seething in the corner.

“It would break the connection. But, we don’t know if it would restore their memories. For all we know, if we do that, the real Brendon and Pete could be lost forever.”


	21. 20th December 2009 - Patrick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

The vampire came. It took her two days to arrive and then she plunged herself straight into work, without even telling us her name. She chose to enter Pete's mind first, fearing that his direct connection to Luka would grow stronger with every night it was left to grow. We tied Pete down and though her thrashed against the restraints, he did not break free. She sat at the head of his bed, placing her fingers at Pete’s temples and diving down into his mind. He grew still, his body temperature flickering between too cold and too hot, his heart rate swapping from too slow to too fast in instants. There were no sounds, but she came out of his mind at the end of the first night utterly exhausted, drained. Then she spoke directly with us.

“I am afraid there is more bad news than good. Pete’s connection to his sire is strong, reinforced by many factors that will make my job difficult. The Pete you want back, the good part of Pete, the part that remembers you, I can see him, but he is locked away, chained in a cell at the centre of his mind. His defences are intricate and complex and delicate, but also basic and brutal, a merged consciousness, partly Pete’s mind and partly his sire’s. It is likely a similar situation with Brendon, but in all honesty, his defences will be harder to break through. He has his own mind protecting him, as well as Pete and the sire's mind. That means that when I try to break through the defensive layers, the sire will know and will likely attack both mentally and physically to try and recapture Pete and then Brendon.”

“So we need to stock the house, make it easily defendable?” Joe asked.

“Yes. I was just getting a feel for the situation, I did not attack, so the sire is unaware of my presence, but he soon will be. Stock up on everything you need, I do not know how long this will take.” We nodded and I checked my watch. 

“It’s six am. Most shops will be open in an hour or two. Andy, Joe, Dallon, Spencer go then and get the supplies. Miss… I don’t know your name.”

“Evangelina Newton.”

“Evangelina. Feel free to eat, sleep, whatever you need.” She nodded once.

“The sun is yet to rise. I need to go out for a little while. Though you may not approve of my diet, I cannot do what is necessary on your…blend. I require human blood.” We set our shoulders, ready to defend our home and the people of LA if necessary. “Do not worry. I have not killed anyone in two hundred years, nor have I yet been caught. I take only a little from each person and I wipe the memory after. It is humane, the humans will live.” I swallowed and nodded, though an uneasiness settled on my shoulders as she swept out the front door. The others gave me a disapproving look.

“I don’t like it any more than you do. But she is helping us and she needs to feed and you’ll hate me for saying it but I trust her. We need her more than she needs us. If we drive her away, Pete and Brendon are only going to get worse.” They sighed and rubbed their eyes, tiredness seeping in. “Stay awake for now. Get supplies and then sleep for the rest of the day. We need to be alert tonight.” They nodded and disappeared upstairs. I sighed and sat down on one of the stools at the kitchen counter, awaiting Evangelina’s return. 

As the sun cleared the horizon, she entered, nodding to me before disappearing down to the basement. I followed her down and leaned in the doorway. She unhooked her cloak, draping it over one of the chairs before she began unlacing her shirt. “Is something wrong?”

“No.” The laces came free and I half turned away as she began changing.

“Are you sure? You seem...frustrated? No. Annoyed.”

“I’m not,” I said, trying to mask the annoyance in my voice. It irritated me that she could tell what I was feeling.

“Well, you’re different than the others. More conflicted. It is strange. Most hunters would have killed Pete by now, even if they were his best friend. I get the feeling Joe and Andy would have by now. And though Spencer may not have killed Brendon, without you, he certainly would have tried to kill Pete.” I glanced at my friend, asleep, still tied to the bed as she stripped off her shirt and replaced it with a short silk nightdress before untying the laces of her boots. Brendon slept next to him, also tied down so that he couldn’t escape. It felt wrong to do that to them, but unless we wanted them to run back to Luka, we couldn't risk it.

“I’m not conflicted.”

“Your mind is.” I shot a glance at her. “Don’t worry. I haven’t pried inside your head. But I can sense it, even without touching you. Other Psychics will too. I can sense relief and hatred and love and about five other emotions. Most hunters I’ve come across are violent, focused only on killing the next vampire who crosses their path. Most of them come from damaging backgrounds; split up families, deaths of loved ones, both. You, you don’t seem to have that.” She dumped her pants over the back of a chair and sat down, still looking at me.

“My parents divorced when I was eight.”

“I know.” I frowned at her, confused. “I did my research. A lot of it is on the internet.” I raised an eyebrow, surprised she even knew what the internet was. “Hey! I heard that.”

“But I didn’t…”

“You didn’t have to. Anyway, what I mean is that your parents divorce isn’t the reason you’re a hunter. I can’t figure that out.” I shrugged. Even I wasn’t sure why I did it. “I’m tired. Goodnight Patrick.” She smiled and slid into the spare bed we’d brought down the day before. I sighed and headed upstairs. I wanted to work on some music for a little bit before heading to bed. 

Andy, Joe, Dallon and Spencer went out around eight am to get supplies and arrived back a few hours later, fully laden with enough food for two weeks at least. I smiled grimly and we stored everything away before heading upstairs to bed. I tossed and turned for a while, but sleep eventually found me.

My dreams intertwined with my nightmares, the two becoming indistinguishable. I awoke around four, still tired, my sheets soaked through despite the cold weather outside. I sighed and threw them in the washing machine before grabbing coffee and slumping in the living room. Dallon was already there, his abnormally long legs folded on themselves as he picked out a bass line. I left him engrossed in his work and headed back to my sound-proofed studio. A variety of instruments lay around the room, my computer tucked into the wall beside the door. I sat down and opened the last programme, listening back to what I'd written. I decided on principle that it was terrible. Still, I had nothing else to do, so I carried on writing it anyway.

After what felt like forever, Spencer poked his head around the door. "Can we talk?" I shrugged and he entered, picking up a discarded guitar before sitting on the floor in the space it had previously occupied. 

"What's up?"

"I wanted to apologise. I was an ass. I shouldn't have blamed you and I understand why you didn't tell people about him, especially given how I reacted. And I know he was only trying to save Brendon. If he hadn't done that, B wouldn't be here." I smile tugged at the corners of my lips.

"Okay." Spencer frowned.

"Okay?"

"Yeah. Thank you for apologising." With that Spencer frowned and then smiled. Dallon appeared in the doorway, jerking his head in the direction of the basement. "Well then. Let's go get our friends back."


	22. 21st December 2009 - Evangelina

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Pete and Brendon's friends gathered in the basement around me. I'd already pulled on a plain black t-shirt and trousers, knowing the work ahead would be both physically and mentally exhausting. Pete was awake, though he said nothing, just glared at us with dead eyes in icy, stony silence. I sat at the head of his bed, placing my fingers on his temples and closing my eyes, focusing on the him, filtering out other thoughts and sounds. 

_Eventually, my mind faded into his and I landed heavily in a dimly lit stone corridor, the same place I'd landed yesterday. The corridor was reminiscent of castles in Europe and not one of Pete's defences. No, that was one of Luka's additions. Thankfully, I'd managed to find my way around the day before, so getting back wasn't difficult. That was where it grew strange. I reached a point where the stone walls ended, fading out into blackness, at the centre of which was a tiny spark of colour and life, flickering like a candle in the wind. But between me and the spark was the unknown, the darkness left no way past. And though I wished it was, this was not one of Luka's defences._

_I closed my eyes, making the darkness my own and stepping forward. My foot hit solid ground and I breathed a sigh of relief, taking another step. I took a third step, and a fourth before I opened my eyes. Nothing. Even the corridor behind me had faded into blackness. Only the spark remained. That was when the first attack hit. A solid blow to my knee, knocking it from beneath me. I couldn't see my attacker, only sense their presence nearby and there was no mental signature from them which I could find and counter-attack. A blow landed on my back, sending me sprawling forward. I winced at the pain shooting through my jaw as I hit the ground, but I was up again in moments, closing my eyes and trying to allow my senses to pick up what I couldn't see. Footsteps behind me, soft, barely there, but enough. I swung, approximating where the attacker's jaw was and hitting the mark correctly. They fell backwards and I sped forward, delivering a blow which knocked them unconcious._

_It seemed that the first attacker was not the last. As soon as I managed to relocate the spark and take a few steps toward it, another attacker began delivering blow after blow. But there was a methodical regular rhythm to their attacks, meaning once I figured it out, if didn't take long to disable them. And then they fell away. Though I continued to anticipate an attack, nothing happened. I frowned and set off at a steady jog towards the spark, yet it didn't come any closer. Growling in frustration, I paused to think._

~~~~~~~~~~

**21st December 2009 - Luka**

The hunt was proceeding well, we had caught three humans who reeked of fear, adrenaline pumping through their veins. And then, a pain shot through my head, causing me to drop to the ground. Elle dropped seconds after me. 

_I dove into the centre of my mind, the island to which all the minds of my sire-bonded were tethered. Every bridge except one was intact. Pete. Elle's consciousness appeared in my mind, standing next to me, staring down Pete's string which was pulsing red. "Something's wrong," Elle's mental voice spoke to mine._

_"They're trying to break it." Elle glanced at me._

_"The sire bond? I thought you couldn't break it." I paced across the width of the base of the bridge._

_"You can break a normal sire bond. But this shouldn't be possible. A psychic sire bond is iron. They can't be broken." Another pulse of pain shot through my head, telling me I was wrong. "This is impossible."_

I pulled out of my head, standing up. The hunting party stared at me. Another sharp jolt of pain in my head made me whip my head in the direction of Pete's mental signature. "That way." 

~~~~~~~~~~

**21st December 2009 - Evangelina**

_Pete's sire knew something was wrong. I had not yet established whether or not he knew I was inside Pete's head, but if he did, I would need to pull up my own psychic walls. I'd gained ground. As it turned out, closing my eyes was the key. It was strange to run blind. Every so often, I had to stop and open my eyes to check I was still heading towards the spark. Then I drew closer, closing the distance from miles to a few hundred feet. The spark grew bigger, forming the shape of a person, forming into Pete, eyes wide. I kept going, closer and closer..._

Then, a wave of solid energy threw me clean out of Pete's head and halfway across the room. I stood, winded, and glanced around.

"What the hell happened?" Patrick demanded.

"Does Pete have any other powers? Other than the psychic ability?" The tall one - Dallon - frowned.

"Why?" I shot him a look of distaste and turned back to Patrick.

"Yeah, maybe. He managed to hold us against the wall without touching us. I don't know, it was weird."

"Sonic waves. Of course. Because nothing is ever simple," I said to myself. "Pete's manifested."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that as a human being, Pete had a crumb of power or presence or whatever you want to call it which was amplified as a vampire. He can control sonic waves. It's also called Audiokinesis or sound manipulation." They didn't look surprised. "I'm going back in. Pete's sire, he knows there's something wrong. You said you have half-breed friends. Get them here." I didn't say any more before placing my fingers on Pete's temples and diving back down into his mind.

_This time, I dropped into the same place I'd left. I anchored myself a good twenty feet out from Pete and called across the distance. "Pete!" He turned slowly, his eyes growing wide at the sight of me. "You have to take control!" He shook his head a little._

_"I can't." His words reached me, despite the fact that he hadn't raised his voice above a whisper._

_"Pete! Your friends are out there fighting for you. Pull yourself together!" He stared at me, then past me. I closed my eyes and winced, turning to find all of the attackers rising, stumbling towards me. At least now there was light, I reasoned. I raised my fists and planted my feet, glancing over my shoulder at Pete before the first attacker delivered a punch to my gut which had me gasping for air. I regained the ability to breathe, but not before another attacker landed a punch to my jaw which made stars explode in my vision. "Pete! You have to stop them!" I begged, blocking a punch and knocking the attacker flat onto his back. He rose again and it didn't take long for them to overwhelm me. I closed my eyes, curling in on myself and waiting for one of them to deliver a knockout blow. It didn't come._

_Pressure built in my ears, not just pressure, but a low hum which steadily gained power before pulsing hard enough to blow the attackers out, away from the center of Pete's mind. I turned, spitting blood onto the ground and inching forward. "Pete?" He stared at me, conflicting and matching emotions blurring together. Then he stared past me and I turned to look. A male figure appeared in his mind, tall with dark hair and silver eyes._

_"Pete. Do not reject me. I'm the only one who cares about you. They hate you Pete." False warmth coated his voice in honey, yet I shivered as his words trickled over me._

_"No. I remember. Everything. This is the part of me you were trying to get rid of. But you couldn't because I can tell the truth now. My friends care about me. They didn't give up on me, even when they could have, even when I gave them every excuse to." The sonic pulses grew stronger and faster. "Get out of my head, Luka."_

_"Never! You are mine!" Luka lunged forwards, but the next sonic pulse threw him off balance. I pushed myself to my feet, facing Luka, ready to fight him if the need arose._

_"Luka Del Moriay. Get. Out. Of. My. Head." And with that, a sonic pulse threw us both out of Pete's head._

I stood from my chair and moved back. Even in the real world, the sonic pulses were coming fast, shaking the house. I sprinted up the stairs, locking the basement door. The house was ominously silent. I glanced out the window, eyes growing wide. Pete and Brendon's friends, as well as four half-breeds, were fighting off masses of vampires, all with glowing red eyes. At their head, Luka battled with Patrick and one of the half-breeds. His silver eyes pulsed red, linked with the sonic pulses emanating from the house. The house shuddered and a pulse blew through it, knocking me and the others outside to the ground.

Wincing at the pain in my head, I stood up and glanced at the door. Luka lay on the ground, deathly still. The thirty-odd vampires he had brought with him remained still, waiting for a command. The half-breeds and the others retreated in through the door, facing me in the foyer area. One of the half-breeds raised their weapon. I frowned and glanced at the window. My eyes were still glowing red. I flicked them off and touched my head where it had hit the floor with force, hissing as my hand came away with traces of blood.

"Is it done?" Patrick asked. I unlocked the door to the basement and headed down the stairs, pausing at the bottom. Pete moved at hyper speed, back and forth across the basement, mumbling words and crying. Patrick, Joe and Andy pushed past me as Pete stopped next to Brendon's bed, watching as Pete rested a hand on Brendon's chest. 

Pete's band mates moved forward, Patrick touching Pete's arm gently, turning him around. "Pete?"

"Patrick?" Pete collapsed to his knees in front of the three of them and they surrounded him. Patrick's mind pulsed with a memory, a night months and months ago, just after Pete had first turned. I smiled a little at the memory and breathed a sigh of relief, heading back upstairs with the others, leaving Fall Out Boy to their reconciliation.


	23. 27th December 2009 - Dallon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

"So how long was I in there?"

"About four days." Evangelina's eyebrows flicked upwards.

"I knew time runs differently inside people's heads, but not by that much. It felt more like four hours than four days."

"You're sure Pete's okay?"

"I'm sure Luka's gone. The sire bond is broken. Whether Pete is okay is...highly debatable." Patrick frowned. "I'm not sure he's in the best place right now. He still has all of the memories from the last few months. I offered to take them away but he said he needed to remember. He's spent months watching himself kill people over and over, without being able to stop of control it." The thought was...sobering. 

"And Brendon?" I asked her.

"Breaking Pete's connection to Luka should have weakened Luka's grip on him, so it shouldn't take as long. Hopefully you'll have Brendon back before the new year begins. But I need food. I'll go out in a little while, sleep all of tomorrow and then begin tomorrow evening." Andy and Joe glanced at Patrick and he shook his head subtly. However, it seemed they ignored him as the stood up at the same time as Evangelina.

"You can't."

"I can't what? You need my help much more than I need you - which is not at all actually. And I won't be able to do this for you unless I've fed. So you could try to stop me, but I would just leave and we both know you don't want me to do that." Neither Andy nor Joe seemed pleased about letting her go, but she made a very good point. They sighed as the door closed behind her and Andy glanced at the clock.

"I'm going to try and catch a few hours sleep. Night guys." Soon after, Joe and Spencer followed him. Patrick stood and poured a glass of fruit juice. I raised an eyebrow and he shrugged, heading down to the basement. I followed only because I wanted to talk to Pete. But, Pete was lying in his bed, shaking, his sheets soaked in sweat. He shot bolt upright as we appeared at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes flickering red, brown, red before settling back to their natural colour. Patrick ran forwards, stopping suddenly as there was a blur of colour and Pete's head was nestled in Patrick's shoulder. Patrick frowned.

"Pete? What's wrong?" Pete pulled away and shook his head.

"Just a nightmare. I'm fine." And yet his eyes drifted to Patrick's neck. There was a strange hunger in his eyes. "I'm hungry, but fine." Well, I thought, at least he admitted it. Brendon, stubborn as he was, probably wouldn't admit to it. It was probably for that reason that Patrick smiled.

"I'll grab some of the blend from upstairs." Pete nodded and slumped back down on the bed as Patrick wandered upstairs again.

"Hey. Can I talk to you?" Pete glanced up.

"I'm surprised you even want to talk to me at all. Brendon..." He glanced sideways at our friend lying still on the bed next to Pete's. I shrugged and sat next to him.

"Eva said Luka might have been controlling you." Pete closed his eyes - surprisingly lacking his distinctive eyeliner.

"He wasn't. It was all me. I couldn't let Brendon die, not when it was my fault in the first place." I sighed.

"Even if Luka didn't force you to do it, I would have done the same thing. You have this power and you can use it for evil like Luka and Elle, or you can use it for good. I think you were trying to do the right thing."

"That means the world, Dallon, thank you." I smiled a little.

"It's okay. I just wanted to ask, Brendon will be okay, won't he?"

"Honestly?" I nodded. "He has to be. I can't lose him, not after everything we did."

~~~~~~~~~~

**28th December 2009 - Evangelina**

I took a few days to recover. Breaking Pete's sire bond had taken a lot out of me, and it took longer than I expected to get ready to enter Brendon's mind. When I was ready, I sat at the head of his bed, fingers resting on his temples, the tall one - Dallon - and the drum one, Spencer, close by. 

_I dived in, heading down through the layers of his mind, each one more beautiful than the next, but devoid of colour and life yet deathless as he was. This time, I landed in a forest, darkness pressing in around me, clouding the path ahead. The trees came to life, fighting me, blocking my path to the tiny speck of light which seemed so far away. I closed my eyes, willing my panicking mind into still silence. Once I did, everything dropped away. No illusions, no fighting. One moment I was grasped in the hand of a powerful oak, the next I was standing next to Brendon, curled up, in on himself. I frowned and knelt next to him. "Brendon. Come with me." He glanced up at me, shock and fear plastered across his face. An image sprung from the ground as I whirled to face where Brendon was looking. Luka. I hissed and stood up. "Leave now Luka. Your hold on him is failing."_

_"Brendon. Come to me. I can fix this. I can make it better. Your friends want to cage you again but I will set you free." Brendon stared at him, glancing at me as I knelt next to him, grabbing his wrist._

_"Please Brendon. Come on. You can do this. Throw him out. He can't stay if you don't let him. Please, I..." My words clattered to a halt as I felt a thin snake of cold creeping up my spine. I turned and found a shimmering silver blue trail leading back to Luka. Shards like glass stuck out at all angles and I felt my body go cold, my heart dropping dangerously low, even for a vampire. Then, like a miracle, Brendon reached out an arm towards me and a pulse of sound shattered the ice to pieces. I grinned internally. "Get up Brendon. Take control." And he did. Little by little, he got up, pulse after pulse blasting towards Luka. He flicked eyes to me and mouthed: 'I'm sorry.' before flicking me out of his head._

Spencer looked at me for an explanation. "He's doing it." 

_I pressed my fingers to his temples again dropped into his mind in time to see a wave of sound shatter Luka to pieces of ice glistening under the radiant light which had sprung from the last wave. It was still radiating, pushing the darkness back further and further, filling every inch of his mind with colour and music. I smiled and glanced at Brendon as we wandered towards the centre of his mind. Like everyone's minds, his centre was an island with links, wispy looking mist-like bridges to certain memories. And then there was one bridge which I did not like the look of at all. A solid bridge simply labelled 'Pete'. I left Brendon to his thoughts and wandered down the bridge. At the centre, a thin shimmery sheet of liquid hung in the air. As I passed through it, I landed in a music practice room, though I had no idea where. As I exited the room, I found myself on another island with a bridge labelled 'Brendon'. Pete's voice echoed around my mind._

_"Why are you in my head? What's wrong?" I gaped as a memory raced past me and shook my head, pulling out of his mind._

I glanced at the five people standing in the basement. "We have to talk."

~~~~~~~~~~

**31st December 2009 - Patrick**

"What?!" I asked and exclaimed.

Evangelina swallowed and repeated her statement. "Pete is still sire-bonded."

"To who?" I asked. It couldn't be Luka. She'd quite permanently destroyed that bond.

"To Brendon." None of us could quite believe what we were hearing.

"So break it!" Dallon said forcefully. Evangelina glanced at him and Spencer, then at me.

"If I do that, there is a high possibility that Brendon will die." We all frowned. Part of me wanted to convince myself it didn't make any sense. Another part of myself knew it did.

"What? Why? Pete didn't die when you unlinked him from Luka and neither did Brendon."

"That's different. Luka never used the sire bond to force Pete to do anything, and Brendon wasn't directly linked to Luka."

"What do you mean 'used the sire bond to force' something?" Joe asked. He remained calm, even if the rest of us were panicking slightly.

"When Pete changed, he survived on his own. You know only 60% make it through, don't you?" We nodded in sync. "By the fourth day, you know if someone will make it or not. How long did it take Brendon to get through the transformation?" Dallon glanced at Spencer in realisation.

"Four days."

"Exactly. Brendon was going to die. If Pete hadn't been there that night, Brendon wouldn't be here now. He only survived because Pete used the sire bond to order him, to force him to live." Silence encased the room.

"What?!" I reiterated.

"I could break it and Pete would be fine, but again, there is a 60-40 chance Brendon will die." Evangelina glanced around the room, likely already aware of our answers but giving us time to process. Dallon spoke up first.

"Break it. Brendon's strong. He'll pull through." Dallon's optimism was encouraging and a big difference to his usual self.

"No! What if he does die?" Spencer asked, his concern for his friend evident.

"Does anyone want to know what I think?" Brendon's voice echoed from the doorway. He and Pete entered the living room, slumping down onto the sofa. "I think we leave it. It doesn't matter and Pete is not going to try and control me. I can trust him." Dallon stared at his friend, walking and talking like a human being for the first time, probably since he had been turned.

"What if you can't?" Brendon stood up and took Dallon's hands.

"I can, Dallon. He saved me. Twice! I would trust Pete with my life. I'll be fine." Dallon didn't look convinced, but Brendon's puppy-dog eyes were always his downfall. His shoulders visibly relaxed, they hugged briefly and Dallon smiled. 

"Pete. Do you solemnly swear never to force Brendon to do anything ever again?" Dallon asked.

"I do." Pete said in his most serious tone. Brendon grinned.

"See, it's fine. What's the worst that could happen?"


	24. January/February 2010 - Patrick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Heading into the new year, the negatives had piled up. Somewhere out there, Luka was planning something big and we had no idea what it was. But the positives had somehow managed to equal out the negatives. Yes, the band had split up. Yes, there were still vampires running rampant around LA. Yes, we were all exhausted and could do with a solid week of sleep. But, we had Brendon and Pete back and somehow, that kind of made up for all the bad. 

Inevitably however, things were about to change.

Over the past week and a half, since Evangelina had left for Europe, we'd noticed something about Pete - and Brendon was beginning to exhibit similar signs. Every so often, one of us would be sitting down on one of the sofas in the basement and Pete would sit up so quickly you barely had time to see him. His breathing would be shaky and his eyes would be wild, flickering between red and chocolate brown until he got his bearings. Even then, it could take hours to persuade him that Luka wasn’t coming, that he was safe. Before, all he’d wanted was freedom, now, all he wanted was to be safe from whatever scheme Luka was concocting. It didn’t end, Pete’s nightmares carried on plaguing his dreams. Brendon grew quieter than ever, shadows circling his eyes. Whatever tricks Luka had played with his mind still plagued him in his dreams too. 

Eventually, I called Alex and MCR over to sit down and talk. The conversation was long but one thing became clear. "They're in withdrawal," Ray told us. Joe flicked his eyebrows upwards.

"What?"

"It makes sense. Brendon's been drinking pure human blood for two and a half months - and Pete for three months longer than Brendon. You said they're both paler than usual, clammy to the touch and shaking. They're attempting to just cut off their supply at the neck. That's insanely difficult," Gerard explained.

"So what exactly do we do?" 

"When we were in the same position, we relied on each other to pull us out, but we're all the same species, and we're only half vampire. You being with them, being human...you're probably part of the problem. I don't know. We don't have an answer. I'm sorry." We thanked them for the insight and they left.

We tried to stay out of Pete and Brendon's way, to remove the temptation we provided, but after a month, the withdrawal symptoms were worse than ever. Then, one evening, Alex growled at us that she’d had enough. I followed her downstairs to the basement where neither of the vampires were awake yet.

“This isn’t working Patrick.”

“I know. What are we supposed to do?”

“I have an idea. It’s going to suck for them but it will be the quickest way to burn the human blood out of their system.” I frowned as she stuck a needle carefully into her arm and plugged in a pint-sized blood bag.

“What are you doing?”

“My blood is healer’s blood. It tastes the same as human blood and they’ll want it enough that they won’t be able to tell the difference.”

“How exactly is that going to help them?!”

“My blood has healing properties in it.” Apparently, I still looked confused since she groaned in frustration and decided to elaborate. "Vampires require human blood for two reasons: One, it contains vitamin D which humans get from sunlight. Two, if a hunt is carried out properly, human blood has high levels of adrenaline in it. Vampires can't go out in sunlight for long enough to get the Vitamin D they need - which is a lot higher than the amount of it humans need - otherwise they are burnt to a crisp. Vampires also don't have a functioning adrenal gland - don't ask me why, I never figured that out. Healers blood has those things in it, but in much, much lower quantities than human blood does because we're designed to be in perfect health. I could stay underground and out of sunlight for ten years and still have enough Vitamin D - and still be this tanned,' she said with a half-grin. I rolled my eyes. I'd never been tanned and the continual sunburn was the bane of my existence.

"So again, how will this help?"

"I'm hoping that if they drink my blood, the healing properties in it should flush their system and effectively reset it. They’ll still want the human blood, but the addiction and the withdrawal should be gone.” She replaced the first bag with a second and carried on speaking. “After they drink this, they should be out cold for a couple of hours while their bodies reset and my blood works. Then, they should be fine.” I nodded and glanced at the dark green blood in the first bag.

“There was an awful lot of ‘should’ in that speech.”

“It’s a theory. I’ve never actually tried it before. In case you haven’t noticed, its quite difficult to pin a vampire down long enough to ask whether it works.” I looked down at the floor.

“Right. Sorry.” The bag finished filling up and she disconnected it, pulling the needle out of her arm. I glanced at Pete and Brendon, asleep on the beds across the room from us. Pete was still as death, his face scrunched up in an emotion I couldn’t place. I gently touched his shoulder and he sat up, panting, eyes flashing. “Pete! It's okay, it's me, you're okay, you're safe. Here. Drink this, it’ll help.” It didn’t take a second invitation before he sank his fangs into the bag and began drinking. As he finished, his eyes flashed from red to green and he collapsed back onto his bed. I glanced at Alex and she shrugged as I wandered towards the second bed, finding Brendon shaking, his hands by his side while his nails dug into the mattress. “Brendon. We made you something to drink. Please, try it?” He stared warily at the bag full of green blood in his hands and then put it down on his bedside table, frowning at me an a slightly disconcerting way. Alex glanced at me and I grabbed a needle, wincing as I punctured the blood bag. As soon as Brendon scented the copper and iron of Alex’s blood, his fangs drive into the blood bag, draining it in seconds. Like Pete, Brendon’s eyes flashed green before he collapsed back onto his bed.

The next four hours were some of the most nerve wracking. I kept glancing at my watch, waiting for them to appear. After an hour, Alex groaned. "Go and be productive. I'll call you when they get up." I smiled in appreciation and headed to the music room, drowning myself in the music for an hour or more before sitting on the sofa to review the demos I'd created. Not that I had time to. I'd been running on adrenaline and coffee and barely any sleep for half a year and finally, the exhaustion of everything caught up with me. 

~~~~~~~~~~

**12th February 2010 - Pete**

When I woke up, something was different. The world wasn't painted in shades of red. The sound of human hearts didn't pump as loudly in my ears. The scent of human blood didn't shove itself up my nose. I swallowed and sat up, locking eyes with Brendon. His face held the same look of wonder and I knew he probably felt the same thing I did. There was a gap missing in my memory, something blurry and faded, just out of reach and coloured red. Brendon seemed to have a similar memory.

 _'What the hell happened?'_ Brendon's thoughts echoed around my head.

 _'I don't know. Are you okay?'_ Brendon glanced down as his body. At some point he'd stripped off his clothes, meaning he was sitting only in his boxers. He ran his fingers over the faint scars Luka had given him and shuddered, reaching for the plain t-shirt hanging over the end of his bed with a pair of comfy looking tracksuit bottoms. He pulled both on rather hurriedly, still shaking slightly.

 _'I'm fine.'_ I raised an eyebrow. I'm fine. Meaning: No, I'm not fine, but I don't want to talk about it just now. I reached for a similar set of clothes hanging at the end of my bed, pulling them on with an equal swiftness before sighing. Brendon glanced at me. _'Dude. We've seen each other completely naked and we just pulled on clothes like a pair of teenage girls with a 2-minute deadline.'_ For the first time in a long, long while, both of our laughs were genuine.

 _'Hey. We should probably find the others. I have no idea what's going on in the outside world. We have so much catching up to do.'_ Brendon sighed and stood up, stretching far more gracefully than I could ever seem to manage. _'Screw you and your elegance.'_ Brendon raised an eyebrow and we both burst out laughing again.

"Come on. I'm sure Patrick's somewhere around." I stood up, listening to all of my joints click simultaneously. 

"Owwwww," I groaned. "You know, I thought being a vampire I was supposed to become naturally graceful and athletic but I still ache like a fifty year old."

"Pete, you're thirty." I winced.

"I know..." Brendon smothered a giggle while I straightened my bed covers before we both headed upstairs. As we reached the main entrance hall, I caught the sound of soft snores coming from the music room. Apparently, sound-proofing only worked if you were human. Brendon opened the door and we found Patrick fast asleep on the sofa, his laptop discarded on the floor along with a handful of instruments. I maneuvered past two electric guitars, a bass, an acoustic guitar and an abandoned pair of drumsticks without making a sound, only to fall directly onto the full drum kit with a crash that I was sure could be heard for miles. Brendon winced.

"Pete?" Patrick's sleepy voice echoed softly in the acoustics of the room.

"Hey. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you..." Patrick's arms snaked around my neck, his head resting on my shoulder.

"It's okay. You're back? Really, truly back?" I nodded and hugged my best friend.

"Yeah. We're back." Patrick glanced up, finding Brendon leaning awkwardly in the doorway. He waved him over and hugged him before we slumped next to each other on the sofa.

"We're back," Patrick whispered softly. And there was something in his voice. Something good and pure and kind. It took me a while to figure out what it was.

Hope.


	25. 3rd March 2010 - Pete

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

We still had nothing. Brendon and I had scoured our minds for the information which might help us take down Luka, but he'd stripped it away - or hadn't told us in the first place, we didn't know which. We were no closer than we had been two months ago and it was infuriating. Eventually, Patrick ordered us to get some sleep since we'd pulled multiple all-nighters to do research. It wasn't that we didn't want to sleep, it was more that, since everything happened, it was impossible to catch more than a few minutes without falling into another nightmare. After much complaining, we complied with Patrick's friendly order, if only to please him.

Sleep came quickly, but it did not last. Sunlight hit my skin in a steady stream which made me hiss, fangs elongating and eyes lighting up. Andy and Joe stood above me, weapons in hand, while Patrick was nowhere in sight. I sat up, ignoring the tingling pain which came with the sunlight. Everywhere it touched my skin, I could feel it beginning to burn, my exposed chest, arms, hands, face, everything. Joe threw my t-shirt and leather jacket at me and I pulled them on quickly to avoid the sun’s burn. I climbed out of bed, landing on two feet just as I felt Andy’s blade against my throat, a second dagger angled at my heart.

“Guys? Why are you here? What are you doing?” I tried to keep the nervousness from my voice, but fear crept along my spine.

“Walk.” Andy began walking, forcing me to walk in front of him. I caught a glimpse of the clock on the way out, reading the time. 14:27. Way too early for me to be awake and the height of the sun’s arc through the sky. My heart flared a little as they opened the front door and walked straight outside, closing the door behind them. Immediately, I felt the sun beating down. I studied Andy and Joe.

“Guys. Please. Let me inside.” Neither of my friends responded. “Please. I’ll die if you make me stay out here.” Still they didn’t respond. I tried to sprint past them but they caught me, throwing me back out into the sun. Something was wrong. I closed my eyes, focusing on my friend's minds. Usually, they were easy to find - human minds being unprotected - but now, they were blocked, shielded by a painfully familiar presence. 

_'What the hell?'_ Then it dawned on me. Luka wanted me dead. Brendon too probably. My heart raced at the thought of him using my friends to do it. A sound clanged in my ears from a few blocks away, a car’s engine. In minutes, the car pulled up spraying gravel everywhere. Patrick climbed out of the driver’s side, horror filling his eyes. I could see why. My skin was only tingling now, beginning to turn red, but in a few hours it would begin to dry and crack. A couple more hours and I would die. Patrick stormed towards Andy and Joe.

“Let Pete inside. Now!” There was a level of command in his voice that I hadn’t heard before, but the others still didn’t move. Luka's hold on them was too strong. A second car pulled up, Dallon and Spencer climbing out and dealing Andy and Joe a blow to the back of the head which knocked them out cold. I raced inside and back down to the cool temperature of the basement. Patrick hovered halfway up the stairs. "You okay." I hissed. "So, no. Fine. Dallon and Spencer are okay. Brendon caught Luka trying to enter their minds and threw him out. He's going to try and pull Luka out of Andy and Joe's heads." I nodded and Patrick disappeared upstairs. My stomach growled disconcertingly.

The clock ticked, counting the seconds. I had no clue how long it would take for Brendon to throw Luka out of my friends heads. The sun continued it's long, lazy arc through the sky while my skin continued to burn. Even in the cool dark of the basement, I could still feel the phantom pins and needles sensation the few minutes spent outside in the full early afternoon heat and the sunlight had caused. By the time the clock ticked to quarter past seven, darkness had descended and I was starving. I burst through the basement door, listening to the sounds of my friend's voices and their heartbeats in a room close by. Not them. Never them. I grabbed my jacket and left the house, sprinting towards the city. I arrived at the centre in under forty minutes thanks to the speed I'd gained. But even then, the lethargy of my inactive adrenal gland was slowing me down. I bent my knees, jumping upwards and forwards onto the roof of a building close by. There were so many scents in the air, all merging and blending together, some human, some vampire, some...other things. But one stood out over the rest, the scent of mint and lime not so far away. I tracked my focus on it, gaining ground. It was as fast as me, maybe even faster, but the knotted hunger in my stomach was far too compelling to ignore. I caught the scent in the middle of the street, a man at least a foot taller than me in a navy blue tunic with a blade sheathed at his waist, another across his back, a third in his boot and a fourth half-hidden by the folds of his cloak, strapped to his thigh. I winced, realising I lacked any weapons whatsoever with the exception of my fangs. He turned, eyes glowing blue. Mine flicked red in response and I snarled softly.

~~~~~~~~~~

**23:45, 3rd March 2010 - Patrick**

Pete was missing. Brendon had managed to kick Luka out of Andy's head, but he'd taken hits and I had no idea how much longer he could hold out. I winced and phoned Alex.

"Yeah, what's up?" Her voice echoed down the line.

"Thank god. We've got a slight problem. Long story short, Luka was using Joe and Andy to kill Pete. We rescued him but now he's missing. Brendon managed to kick Luka out of Andy's mind, but he's working on Joe and it's not looking good. His nose is bleeding and his eyes are kind of rolling back. Help?" The exasperation was evident in her voice as she spoke.

"Are Dallon and Spencer there?" 

"Yeah."

"Okay, good. Brendon was psychically linked with them before. If he can relink with them, he can draw on their mental energy to get him through pulling Luka out of Joe's head. I'm on my way." And with that, she hung up.

"Okay. Cool. How might we do that?" I said to myself in the silence of the front entrance. I went back into the downstairs bedroom, glancing at Dallon and Spencer. "I've no idea if this is going to work. Put your hands on Brendon's shoulders. Andy, put your hands on Dallon and Spencer's shoulders. Alex said Brendon might be able to draw energy out of you in order to help Joe." They did as I said and I relaxed as Brendon's eyes rolled forwards again, his irises turning the same shades of plain, normal blue that Dallon, Spencer and Andy's eyes were. I wandered through to the kitchen, opening the fridge. The blend sat in four two-litre bottles, the fifth bottle two-thirds empty. I closed the fridge and leaned my forehead against the door, one thought swirling through my mind: Where the hell was Pete?

My answer came sooner than I'd expected. I heard the door creak open and a cry for help before hearing a thud in the entrance hall and finding Pete, collapsed on the ground coated in a pale blue liquid. I knelt down next to him checking his pulse. Slow but steady, normal - for him. And yet he was barely breathing. I pushed him into the recovery position and frowned as I caught sight of a silver blade. I pulled it out of his jacket and almost dropped it upon realising what it was. The front door opened again and I found Alex staring at the dagger.

"Celestial blade," we said simultaneously. Pete's eyes fluttered and opened and I breathed a sigh of relief, but Alex's shoulders were still tensed. She nodded to the blade in my hand.

"Where did you get that?" she asked sharply.

"I killed him. He tried to stab me so I killed him.” Pete looked down at his hands, tears falling, tracking clean paths through the pale blue blood.

“You know that's a Celestial blade, right? You killed a Celestial?” Pete looked at her as if she was insane. “Well now you’re screwed.” I glanced across at her. “You've met Demi-breeds. The Celestials are their parents; immortal warriors, the exact, perfect opposites of Vampires. If you killed a Celestial, the full force of it’s unit will be hunting you down. If you drank it's…” A look of fear crossed her face. “You didn’t…You couldn’t have.” Pete stared at her as she beckoned to Dallon and Andy in the hallway adjoining the entrance hall. I hadn't even noticed them. “Hold him.” Andy and Dallon pushed Pete's shoulders back into the ground, holding him down while Alex moved around to his head.

“If you bite me, I swear to god…” With that, she opened his mouth and searched for the origin point of his fangs, pressing a point on his gum-line, just above his canines. His fangs - a single set of fangs - shot out and he hissed, his eyes glowing. Not red, like they had been before but violet. “He drank the Celestial’s blood. Well that’s just brilliant isn’t it. Let him go.” Dallon and Andy stood up and Pete’s fangs retracted, his eyes turning brown again as Joe and Andy hauled him up off the ground, holding him between them so he couldn’t make a run for it. Alex stared at Pete for a moment.

“Put him in the basement.” They nodded. I winced apologetically as they marched Pete down to the basement, locking the door behind them as they returned to us.

“What is it? Something is obviously wrong.”

“The Celestials are, for the most part, pompous, old-fashioned bastards, hinged on loyalty and honour, a lot like the vampires actually in that respect. But if a vampire drinks the blood of a celestial, one of two things happens. Option one is that they die a long, slow and painful death. Celestial blood is toxic to most vampires. However, option two is that it changes the vampire into something else.”

“What?”

“A sunwalker. A type of vampire which drinks blood at the same rate a normal vampire does, but doesn’t burn in the sun. They pass off as humans. Otherwise, not much is known about them.”

“That’s good isn’t it? That he can walk around during the day?” Alex raised an eyebrow.

“Sure. If you can avoid all the hunters which have trained their entire lives to kill the vampires which are able to appear human.”

“But as long as he doesn’t slip up, this is good?” She didn’t reply for a long time.

“Maybe. If he lives,” she said, putting extra emphasis on the 'if'.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“All sunwalkers are psychics. Whatever the psychic power is, if allows them to survive the change. Most of them. But again, the odds are sixty-forty at best."

"But Pete is psychic. And he survived those odds before." Alex remained silent for a long moment.

"We'll know in a few hours. Either you'll have your friend back, or he'll be dead. I guess you just have to wait and see." I glanced at Alex and for whatever reason, a strange annoyance came over me.

"He'll make it. You can go now." She raised an eyebrow, but decided not to push it and I heard her car pull out of the driveway a few minutes later. I glanced at Dallon and Andy. "Go to sleep. We're all just going to get one decent night's sleep and we'll deal with whatever crap life throws at us in the morning." For once they didn't argue. I followed them upstairs to my bedroom, closing the door and slumping on the bed, exhausted. I scrolled through the music on my phone, picking something random, setting it to shuffle and falling asleep still fully clothed.


	26. One day...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
> 
> 4th March 2010 - Pete
> 
> \- WARNING, potential trigger factors.

The sun rose in an array of violet and rose and soft oranges. 

It had been over half a year since I'd seen a sunset, and I'd almost forgotten how beautiful they were. 

Breathtakingly, heart-achingly beautiful beyond the measure of words. 

The skyscrapers glistened, the city beginning to rise. 

I watched the sky turn from purple and orange to cloudless blue. 

Beneath me, people went about their day, barely noticing the colour and the life their city held. 

I watched clouds cover the sun, felt the rain on my skin as a thunderstorm cleaved the sky apart, forks of lightning striking the city. 

And as suddenly as it had arrived, the storm cleared, the sun rising through the clouds.

Words could never do it justice. 

And when the sun fell from the sky, the sky changing back to purple and pink and red, I felt my heart drop into my feet. The moment had ended, the golden beauty of the day had turned to the silver horrors of what lurked in the night. What was the point? All of that, of everything, the day always returned to the night. The momentary relief of the pure goodness the day had brought would always return to the things hiding in the dark, waiting to pounce on whoever didn't make it home in time. I stared across the darkened city, listening to the silence and the sound of hearts slowed in sleep. I closed my eyes, but a single tear escaped, tracking a steady path down my face. I climbed onto the edge of the roof where I'd been standing for fourteen hours, watching the city. 

It was over a thousand feet down. 310 metres. 73 floors. 

My sobs caught in my throat as I turned my back to the drop and fell. 

The sickening crack of bone on concrete echoed and ricocheted off the buildings around me.

I lay in the dark of the night, pain bursting in my body for so long.

Long enough to watch the sun rise in an array of blood-tinged violet, rose and soft oranges.


	27. 6th March 2010 - Joe

I found him on the morning of the sixth as the sun was beginning to rise. We'd checked all of LA, inch by inch, and found nothing. The streets were empty. We ended up following every blood trail in the vague hope that he was at the end of one of them. That was how I ended up outside the US Bank Tower, staring at a pool of blood which had stained the ground, despite the rain. I followed the trail to a dark corner of an empty basement level garage. Frowning at the shadows, I switched on my torch. 

"Oh god." I dropped to my knees at the sight in front of me. Illuminated under the light was a body, limp and broken, smashed to pieces, lying in a pool of blood and somehow still alive, barely breathing, the heart nothing more than a flutter under the skin. My own heart thudded in my chest as I turned him over, finding Pete's eyes staring at me. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, fumbling for the right buttons. Somehow, I found the right one and it began ringing. Once. Twice. Three times. By the fourth ring I was sure she wouldn't answer, but she did.

"Alex?"

"Yeah. What is it? I was just heading home from my shift."

"Oh thank god. I found Pete."

"Where? Is he okay?"

"In the car park by the US Bank Tower. No." I put the phone down next to me as Pete's eyes fluttered. "Pete. Please, stay with me. It's going to be okay."

"Joe? Stay with him. Call the others. I'm on my way. I'll be there in ten minutes, max." The call ended and I stared at Pete blankly for a minute before calling the others. Calling everyone. 

Alex was the first to arrive, still in her teal hospital scrubs with a Panic! at the Disco hoodie thrown over the top. She knelt down next to me, hands resting on Pete's chest, her eyes flashing green. "Oh god." I glanced at her. "No. Oh Pete." She refused to tell me what she knew until Brendon arrived. She glanced at the vampire and he put his hands on Pete's temples, his eyes flashing red and darting around rapidly for a few seconds.

"Pete?" Brendon's voice cracked. "He jumped." I shot a glance at Brendon. "From the top." Brendon glanced upwards towards the bank tower and my heart fell, thudding louder in my chest. "Alex?" My attention shifted to the healer.

"It's bad. Multiple fractured and broken bones, including seven spinal fractures and a fracture on his skull. Plus numerous torn muscles and ligaments. It's not good." Another three cars squealed to a halt and the rest of the people I'd called climbed out. 

"What do we do?" I asked Alex.

"Take him back to the house. I can work on piecing him back together there." I nodded and glanced at Dallon who lifted Pete effortlessly and smoothly off the ground. Despite the gentleness of his actions, Pete's eyes rolled backwards. I couldn't even begin to imagine the pain which was shattering and splintering his body all over again. Brendon winced, his breathing speeding up. I could see him suppressing a scream as Dallon put Pete down on the back seat of Patrick's car. Spencer noticed too.

"B? What's wrong?" For a little while, Brendon didn't answer. When he did, it seemed difficult - painful - for him to get the words out.

"Pete and I are linked through our sire bond and because we're psychic," he winced and paused to breathe. "That means we share everything. Thoughts, emotions, memories and pain. It's not real, though." Alex appeared next to him as I frowned.

"It's like when you stub your toe. Hurts like hell, even though there's usually no damage," she explained. I sighed.

"Okay. Come on then. Alex, do you know how long it will take for him to heal?" She shook her head as we climbed into the car.

"Only vaguely. I've studied vampire healing but it never covered sunwalkers or anything this bad. He needs blood too, he's lost too much. I'm going to try giving him some of mine, but for all I know, it could make it worse. I'd give him between four and seven days." I nodded and glanced at Patrick.

~~~~~~~~~~

**11th March 2010 - Joe**

“You promised! You promised me you would never do it again!” Patrick’s violent shove did very little to Pete, but he still staggered back a step, wincing as the remnants of pain lingered. I kept my hands loose by my sides, within easy reach of the dagger tucked into my boot. Mainly because Patrick was pissed. Well and truly past the point of no return, and I wasn't sure Pete would defend himself if Patrick decided to lunge for him.

“It was my choice,” Pete said sadly.

“Yeah, it was. And it was dumb and...and selfish! How many times do you want me-” Patrick gestured to Andy and me “-want us to have to put you back together after you fall apart?”

“I killed people, Patrick! So many people. All I can see is their fear. All I can hear are their screams. You don’t understand. You _can't_ understand because you're...you." Patrick stayed quiet, his chest rising and falling steadily.

“How many?” Andy asked. It wasn't curiosity or nosiness which fuelled his question, just a desire for the truth.

“One hundred and forty seven,” Pete said without hesitation. Without taking his eyes off Patrick's face. My stomach dropped. He was only gone five months. That was almost thirty people a month. One person every day. “Do you see? I’ve killed so many people and I can’t apologise to their families, can’t bring them back, can’t do anything. Why do I deserve to live, Patrick? Why shouldn’t I pay for the people I’ve killed? Why shouldn’t I pay for trying to kill you?”

Patrick was silent for a long while, his arm pushing Pete back against the wall. Then, he released Pete, brushing a tear off Pete’s cheek, gently, kindly. “Sometimes before it gets better, the darkness gets bigger. Sometimes the person that you’d take a bullet for is behind the trigger.” And that was that.

Sometimes I wondered whether Patrick was even capable of holding a grudge. He was kind and stronger than he let on. He was the best of all of us, better than me, Dallon, Spencer, Brendon, Pete, even Andy if that were possible. 

"Why?" Pete asked.

"We love you, Pete. As you are. Flaws and all. Good and bad, whether that's days or weeks or months or years. We're all going to be here, right next to you, even if we're a million miles apart. We'd all take a bullet for each other and that includes you. It might not be okay now, but I promise you, we'll get there, together." Pete glanced at Andy and me.

"Together?" We nodded.

"Yes."

"Together."

"Always."


	28. 14th March 2010 - Patrick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

"Pete!" Joe yelled, a blur of movement passing me instantaneously, catching the escaping vampire and knocking them on their ass. I sighed with relief and we jogged to catch up with Pete. The vampire stared at us strangely, almost predatorily, until Pete broke through its mental defences.

"I don't know anything! Please! Let me go!" It hissed. Pete crouched down in front of it, narrowing his eyes and frowning.

"She's lying. She knows something. I can't see what it it though." Joe angled his dagger at the vampire and she snarled.

"I'll die before I tell you anything." She flicked glowing red eyes to Pete. "Ignavum nominare. Sanguis fuit proditor." She repeated the words and Pete rolled his eyes.

"Tacere, luna servus." That shut her up. I glanced at Pete.

"Um...what was that?" Pete shrugged.

"She called me a coward and a blood traitor." I raised an eyebrow. "So I told her to shut up. And called her moon slave." I frowned at Pete and he shrugged. "Right. Lillian. You're going to tell us what we want to know, or I'm going to pry open that head of yours and pull the information out of you. Comprende?" She hissed. Andy glanced at us.

"This isn't working." Pete glanced at him and then back at the girl.

"Okay, fine. Either, you tell us exactly what we need to know, and I make your death quick. Or, you can drag this out, I can crack open your mind and make your death nice and slow and painful. Make your choice." The vampire snarled.

"Ignavum..."

"Yes, yes, coward, blood traitor blah blah blah. I get it. Now tell us what we need to know." She scowled and pursed her lips. Pete glanced at me, raising an eyebrow. I shrugged and he turned back to the vampire, placing his fingers on her temples. Their eyes lit up and her body writhed, but Pete kept his grip. It took barely two minutes for him to break the hold and stand up, swearing violently.

"What is it?" Joe asked. Pete glanced at the girl, studying her for barely a second before plunging his dagger through her heart.

"We are so screwed." Pete turned and began walking back to the car. I caught up with him and frowned at the look on his face.

"What is it?" I pushed for an answer.

"Not here. Luka has ears and eyes everywhere. Drive back to the house. I'll meet you there." Without saying anything else, Pete disappeared, becoming nothing more than a blur of movement halfway down the street.

~~~~~~~~~~

We arrived back at the house an hour and a half later, finding Pete perched on the porch roof. He jumped down as we climbed out and we entered together, closing and locking the door behind us. We wandered into the dining room and I cleared the table while Joe closed the curtains, Andy called Panic! and MCR and Pete pulled out a map of the city.

"Okay. What I got from that vampire was this: Luka has one main base of operations. I couldn't see where that is and I know I've been inside, but I can't remember much else about it. Aside from that, he also has several checkpoints across the city, hospitals and morgues mostly along with a few schools and other places. Every vampire has to check in to one of these points every morning, but they don't always go to the same checkpoint. Luka mostly stays at the base, but recently, he's been visiting the checkpoints." While Pete spoke, he marked a red 'X' over certain locations on the map. Once that was done, he added a black circle to some of the locations. "Okay. The red is where there are checkpoints. The black is where Luka has visited."

"Mostly central LA. Why?" Joe asked. Pete put the pen down.

"He's planning to turn everyone." There was a moment of stunned silence before Andy spoke.

"What?"

"He's been recruiting people like crazy for the past six months, whole groups in one go. They've all turned now, so he's got more people than ever. He's planning everyone over the age of seventeen, all in one night."

"How? If he did that, the rest of America would notice."

"Not if he's already got people in the news teams and police." Joe ran a hand through his hair and Andy stepped back.

"That's insane. How would he get through everyone?" Andy questioned.

"Vampire speed."

"What about the people under seventeen?" Pete swallowed. 

"He's going to kidnap them."

"Why?" I asked. Not so much because I wanted to know, but because I needed to.

"So the vampires can raise them, condition them to how Luka thinks and then..." Pete shivered. "He wants to breed them. Forcefully. He'd end up with thousands of half-breeds loyal to him who he could send out to blend in to other cities and set up roots. Then, once the humans have served their purpose, he'll turn them too." I felt sick. Joe was white as a sheet and Andy looked like he was in the middle of a nightmare. I bit my lip.

"When?" Pete shook his head.

"I don't know. I would have thought sometime in the winter, on the longest night of the year to give him plenty of time, but that's months and months away. He's certainly not stupid enough to do it in summer and risk losing half the people he's trying to turn." I almost breathed a sigh of relief.

"So we have time?"

"Maybe. He's only visited the fourteen most central checkpoints. He's got dozens more he still needs to meet with, but for all we know, this could be happening next week." We all fell silent. I realised neither Panic! nor MCR had spoken.

"Gerard, Brendon, what do you think?"

"I agree with Pete, Luka isn't stupid enough to risk the new-turns so he won't do it in the summer. I think he'll wait for something which bears significance. There's a friday 13th in August. Or he might do it on Halloween, though I'd have thought he'd be at the Summit." Gerard's voice echoed through one of the phones. I frowned.

"The Summit?"

"Every ten years the alpha vampires of every country on earth meet up and have political talks. There's three days of partying at the end, finishing with the Samhain Ball. It's huge and mandatory." Pete glanced at me.

"So he's more likely to do it before the Summit? To impress the other Alphas, maybe bump him up to Alpha of the US?"

"I doubt it," Ray's voice took over from Gerard. "The Alphas met in July 2006 after the world found out. I went along for a few days to find out what was going on and the general consensus is that the Alphas want Vampires and humans to try and live in cohabitation. Luka turning everyone in LA would screw that up royally for them. But then again, views might have changed in the last four years." 

"Brendon, thoughts?"

"I don't know. I think he'll do it sooner rather than later. Certainly not after the summit. I had a thought actually. What if we set up surveillance outside each checkpoint. We might not be able to predict a pattern, but we might be able to catch him." I glanced at Pete as he stared at the map.

"Potentially. But there are at least forty checkpoints, if not more and we don't have that many people." 

"So we find more hunters. There's got to be more hunters in LA than just us. And if not, we bring in hunters from outside," Dallon suggested. "There's a band, they released an album last December, newbies, maybe talk to them?" I nodded and glanced at Joe.

"What about Braeden?" Joe and Andy both looked skeptical. They glanced at Pete.

"Maybe. But there's no way he'll work with us if he knows Pete's here."

"I think Braeden is a bad idea," Mikey's voice echoed through the phone on the table.

"Why?" Brendon and Pete said simultaneously.

"He's pissed at Pete," Joe explained rather ineloquently.

"Elenor," Pete said, a pained look of realisation dawning on his face.

"Uh huh. But there's Alex. She's over a hundred years old, she must have contacts."

"Fine. Patrick, message Alex. We'll put our feelers out, see if we can gather any more hunters." Ray told us. "Dallon, if you, Brendon and Spencer try and find that new band. Pete, Joe, Andy, if you know anyone, now would be the perfect time to text them. And if we can get Braeden on board, that would be good too, so long as he doesn't try and put one of his axes through Brendon and Pete's chests." I nodded, despite the fact he couldn't see me.

"Sounds like a good plan. If we meet in a few days to discuss further."

"Okay, but we're recording just now. We'll let you know when we have a day off." Gerard told us.

"We're about to go into recording too actually. It would be good if we can catch Luka before April 20th," Spencer spoke up. I smiled a little, despite the severity of the situation.

"Cool. Alright. MCR will decide when we next meet. Talk later." Various people murmured their goodbyes before ending the call. Pete glanced round the room at the three of us.

"You think we can do this? Catch Luka?"

"Honestly?" Joe asked. We nodded. "No. I don't think we have any chance in hell. But, I think we have to try."


	29. 27th March 2010 - Dallon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

By our next meeting, covert surveillance had been set up outside every vampire checkpoint in the city, including the ones which had already been visited - for all we knew, Luka may return to one of those he had previously visited. The meeting was significantly bigger than I'd expected it to be. Spencer and I had managed to pull the new band in, though they were nervy and a little green for hunters, especially since we were supposed to be dealing with one of the worst vampires in existence. MCR had managed to pull in twelve or more different half-breeds and hunters from I don't know where and Patrick had called Alex, who'd managed to fly Priya's clan - a small city sub-division of the Indian Vampire clan - out to join us. They were vampires, but they agreed to try and subsist from the blend while they remained here. We'd gathered a total of thirty-eight people to help fight Luka.

There was no way it would ever be enough.

Not when Luka had the entirety of the West Coast at his disposal. There was a sinking in my gut, a realisation that any number of these people - no matter their species - may well end up dead before this was over. A realisation that any of the band members from any band could be dead before Luka was ashes at our feet. Brendon frowned at me from across the room and was by my side in an instant. _'What's wrong?'_ He didn't speak, instead his voice echoed inside my head.

 _'Nothing.'_ He gave me a look which meant he knew I was lying. _'It's just, any number of these people could be dead by the end of this. You could be. Patrick, Joe, Frank, any of them. I'm...'_ I couldn't bring myself to say the words I wanted to.

 _'Terrified?'_ I glanced at Brendon, studying him for a moment before nodding. He smiled and leaned against the wall next to me. _'Me too. I had a panic attack the other day. Pete came and helped and I know he and the others have our backs, but ever since I turned, there's this weird connection between me and him. That day, when he jumped, I felt it, not just the physical pain, but it was like my heart and my brain were imploding. If I never feel that again, it will be too soon. But at the same time, it's still there, lurking, ready to pounce out and the idea that I could lose my friends? To Luka? It's worse than any anxiety I've ever had over going on stage. There aren't the words.'_ It was nice to know he understood. I hugged him briefly and we turned our attention to Pete, standing in the middle of the room. Standing next to Brendon, I felt faint waves of nerves flowing from him. Whatever the connection between him and Pete was, it was stronger than anything I'd ever experienced - and I had a wife, a daughter and a son on the way. The realisation that they might be in danger...

I needed to focus. Pete's voice pushed through my thoughts and caught my attention again - not only echoing a little in the room, but inside my head to pull me out of the rapid downward spiral I was entering. I sent an appreciative half-smile his way and he returned if before turning to face the people on the other side of the room.

"Luka is planning something big. At this point, it's better if everyone doesn't exactly know our plan, so once we give out assignments, I don't want anyone to discuss with anyone else. That way, if one of us is captured, we can't give away anyone else's cover or information. Understood?" A wave of 'yes' flowed around the room. "Good. You're welcome to stay here if you don't have somewhere else while you're here. If everyone could stay for the next couple of hours, the eight of us will be giving out assignments. If there is a problem, you can speak to Brendon, Dallon or Spencer." Pete finished his 'speech' and headed over to join us.

"We can get the house's communication system set up." Pete nodded at Spencer.

"Good. We'll be in the ballroom. I gave Brendon a list of the names of people who need a job to do. I've got the maps set out ready to mark on who is covering where."

For the rest of the day, Brendon called out names over the communication system in the house. The members of Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance spoke person to person, assigning certain people to certain area and checkpoints. By five in the evening, we'd covered all but one of the checkpoints. Alex and Priya came to the eleven of us when the rest had retreated to their rooms or left. "Priya, this is everyone. Everyone, this is Priya." She smiled and bobbed her head.

"Your city is very beautiful. It would be a loss for the world it Luka were allowed to destroy that. My people will remain as long as we must." We nodded our appreciation. "However, it is custom for new vampires to meet with a few members of the town or city's clan and the clan leader. I understand the reasons behind us not following this tradition, but if Luka calls me to a meeting, I will not be able to decline without raising the suspicions of the LA clan - and all the other clans Luka is responsible for."

"We understand. Actually, I think it might be useful. I wouldn't initiate contact with Luka, but if he calls a meeting, go. If we can convince him that you and your clan heard of his plan and want to get in on it, then perhaps he might trust you enough to reveal something which might bring him down," Gerard told her. Priya nodded.

"I agree. Your plan seems workable. Even if Alex is overprotective of me and will definitely try to say it's a bad idea," Priya smiled a little and glanced at Alex.

"No, I agree too. I think you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, but I think you need to be prepared against Luka, just in case. I'm sure either Pete or Brendon or both can help out with that." Priya hugged Alex and nodded. "Right, well, I have to go. My shift starts in less than three hours and I still need to do a ton of stuff. See you later." Priya smiled and nodded as Alex picked up her coat and disappeared. Various other people made their excuses and left to do different things, leaving me alone with the vampire.

"So, you're Priya. I'm Dallon. Alex talks about you a lot." She smiled and shrugged.

"Yes, well, she and I have been on and off since she came to me in India in December." I frowned and then raised my eyebrows.

"You're going out?!"

"Sort of. Alex is ace - in more ways than one. We just like spending time together. I'm a volunteer nurse in a very rural area, so we like to talk about healing and we share a history. She's intelligent and independent and strong and fiercely loyal." I smiled.

"You love her?" Priya shrugged and stared off into the distance.

"She's fascinating. She's got a wild charm and uncontrollable nature which are quite at odds with being a healer. She's never really conformed, even when she was younger. But, yes, I suppose you could simplify it down to that."

"What do you mean? About being a healer?" Priya glanced at me with a half-frown.

"Healers powers are genetic manipulation - that's how they heal people. But, that same power is capable of tearing someone apart at a molecular level. It was considered too dangerous so at some point, someone managed to put a code or a lock in their minds or their DNA - we never found out - which stops them using that power." I ran a hand through my hair, frowning as I tried to understand. 

"What does that mean?"

"Alex could be one of the most powerful people you have. In all likelihood, if she had all of her power and she knew Luka's genetic marker, she could find him from here, though I imagine she'd need to be closer to destroy him," Priya answered.

"Hang on a second, you're saying Alex could find Luka without all of this messing around?" I asked.

"Only under certain circumstances. And I've never heard of any healer breaking their lock. Maybe Brendon or Pete could do it if they had more power, but they're new, both of them under a year and their powers are limited." I shook my head, trying to straighten things out in my mind.

"So hypothetically, if Brendon and Pete could gain more power, they could break the lock on Alex's abilities and she could find and kill Luka?" She nodded. "I've had an idea."


	30. 09:43, 28th March 2010 - Brendon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Dallon was strangely enthusiastic when he called us the following day. I'd been up all night and was entirely exhausted, but I needed to hear what he had to say. We gathered at Patrick's house as always, but since the number of us had grown from only us, Fall Out Boy and Alex to include MCR, Priya and the new band who Dallon had insisted upon bringing along, we'd moved our meetings from the smaller of the two living rooms to the bigger living room, the dining room - where we were now - or the ballroom. Why Patrick's house had a ballroom - I still had no idea. 

I could sense the excitement pouring off him as he grabbed Priya and Alex's wrists and dragged them to the head of the table. "Okay. So I was talking to Priya last night. She told me something about Alex which got me thinking." I didn't miss the glance Alex shot at Priya and the shy, apologetic look the taller girl returned. I was definitely missing something there. "Priya, you want to explain?" She nodded and smiled, placing a large folder down on the table.

"What I said is that Alex isn't like other Healers. I've studied them particularly since I met her and I delved into her family history - among others. This folder contains everything I've collected."

"See! I'm not the only one who makes folders!" Patrick exclaimed to the room. Half the people rolled their eyes and Pete nudged Patrick gently, smiling a little. Priya nodded at him once and opened the folder. 

"In the fifties, I spoke to an old healer. She was one of the only healers I've ever seen who actually looked old. She told me about a legend she heard from her mother. I was skeptical at first, but much of her," she glanced at Alex, who raised an eyebrow, "...many of her words were founded in truth." Most of the room was frowning in confusion.

"What legend?" Pete asked. Priya ran her finger over the symbols and words on the page - some written in English, some written in a language I didn't recognise and some symbols which seemed almost mathematical.

"A healer's power comes not only from their blood, but from their soul and mind. It was thought that those three things were the foundation of healers and some other species." We were still frowning.

"I don't get it," I told her.

"I haven't finished," she said calmly - without a hint of aggression. "The common theory is that healers bear a different power to what people originally thought. That power is genetic manipulation, which is a far bigger field than just healing." Even Ray was beginning to look confused.

"I thought it was their blood that had power?"

"Their blood carries the healing factors, yes, but the scientists theorized that another essential part of a healer was the mind and soul. These both carry a little power, thought not nearly enough that they are empathic or telepath, not even enough to be psychic."

"Where are you going with this?" I asked.

"Shh. She's getting there," Dallon frowned at me. I rolled my eyes and sighed, waving a hand for Priya to continue.

"Telepaths and Empaths were much more powerful than any Psychic now - even this Luka you are fighting. Psychics like him cannot latch onto the mind of a healer due to the constant regenerative power of their blood, but even healers have empathic and telepathic signatures strong enough to connect to." People shifted impatiently, more confused than they had been before she started speaking. When I traced Alex's family line - and nine others - back through the healers, I found all of them were connected to this one healer in the mid fourth century. There are very few surviving records about her, other than this; she was the daughter of a human and a sunwalker with a healing ability, she married a powerful half-vampire man whose twin elder brother and sister were an empath and a telepath. On the night her first child was born, she killed both her newborn child and her husband."

"What?" I wasn't sure who the question had come from, but I knew I was echoing the same thought. 

"Healers can't kill," Gerard told Priya who smiled.

"No, they can't."

"Then what...?" Mikey started, but he shook his head and didn't finish.

"When her husband's elder siblings discovered he was dead, they went to her house and knocked her unconscious. While she was out, they attacked her using their powers in the hopes that they could destroy her power. When they found out that was impossible, they locked the dangerous part of her power away in her mind, blocking it so completely that the lock became genetic and was passed down to her children when she remarried."

"What does the lock block out?" Frank asked.

"The destructive part of a healer's power. The part of a healers power which can locate people from miles away just by their genetic code. The part of their power which can rip a person apart on a molecular level."

"Holy crap." Pete linked his fingers, resting them behind his head and taking half a step back from the table. Dallon grinned in a mildly disconcerting manner.

"What's even better is that all healers still possess this power, even if they can't access it. The vast majority of healers are born with the other parent a full human, so the lock remains intact, they remain gentle and open, but Alex..." Priya glanced at the only other female in the room and all eyes turned to her.

"Evangelina?" She asked Priya, who nodded. "My father was part vampire. The same as Bandit." She glanced directly at Gerard. 

"And that makes a difference how?" I asked Alex and Priya.

"Healer DNA is dominant over all others, like how brown eyes are dominant over blue. But Vampires and Celestials are wildly different to humans and even their grandchildren are..." Priya made a face and glanced at Gerard.

"Bandit will be one in May but she's not like other nearly-one-year-olds. I can't explain it, but I've noticed it," he explained.

"Exactly. And my father was strange too. Faster and stronger than the rest of the men in the village, even the men under his command in the army during the wars. He saved almost as many lives as my mother and I did," Alex told us.

"So if some of that was passed down to Alex, the genetics could be off, just by a little, but enough. Has anyone ever noticed they felt ill around Alex? Shaky or sick maybe? Particularly if she was angry or over-excited or sad or in pain herself." I noticed Priya squeeze Alex's hand gently and smiled to myself.

"I felt weird the other day, like my stomach was cramping or something," Patrick admitted. As soon as he spoke up, most of the humans mentioned some small ache or pain which occurred while Alex was around, especially ones where she was not feeling herself. "What does that mean?" He asked.

"It means that the lock which was passed down from her mother is damaged by her father's DNA. Not enough to affect anyone other than humans and even then, only mildly, but enough," Priya finished with a smile. 

"Enough for what? And why is any of this important? How does it relate to our current problems?" Pete questioned.

"Enough to break the lock. It's important because one of the abilities of a healer is to locate people - providing they have a means of location. It's important because if the lock were broken, she'd be able to use Pete or Brendon - though she'd probably need both - to find..."

"Luka," I breathed.

"Bingo," Priya grinned. "And, she'd be able to do almost anything you wanted to kill him. Including but not limited to; turning his own blood poisonous, spontaneous combustion and ripping him inside out." I glanced at Priya, slightly taken aback that she was able to think of such violent ends for Luka, but not completely against any one of those three options. "However," Priya paused and I sighed. _There was always a 'but'. Why couldn't something just be good without there being limits?_ "The power it would take to break the lock is more than either Brendon or Pete possess - more power than the two of them hold together." I closed my eyes and clenched my fist in frustration when Dallon grinned.

"This is where I come in. Do you remember when Luka took over Joe and Andy's minds and tried to take over mine and Spencer's?" We nodded, not particularly wishing to relive the experience. "Well, we linked with Brendon and managed to kick Luka out of your heads." He threw a glanced towards the drummer and guitarist of Fall Out Boy. "It got me thinking. What if everyone here links up with either Brendon or Pete. There's fourteen of us excluding Alex so if Brendon joins with me and Spencer and MCR, then Pete can join with Patrick, Joe, Andy, Priya, Tyler and Josh. Then if the two of you open that Sire bond and reinforce it with the psychic power... We did-" Priya elbowed him. "-Priya did the maths and we're ninety-eight percent sure it would work." We stood with our mouths hanging open while Dallon finished before shifting our gaze to Alex who shrugged. 

"It's risking a lot. You'll have to block out your own minds and focus entirely on Brendon, Pete and me so you don't end up breaking the flow. Brendon and Pete are young, they've not had time to build up the resilience to deal with that much power flowing through them, especially when they're trying to focus on a task this difficult. And getting into my head in the first place will be hard enough. Plus I don't know what will happen if we do manage to break it." Priya grabbed her wrist, turning her into a hug and whispering something in her ear which seemed to calm the healer down.

"It's worth a shot. If it means we can end Luka sooner, we have to try, whatever the cost," I said, attempting to smile reassuringly at Alex. Pete nodded in agreement.

"Whatever the cost."


	31. 12:56, 28th March 2010 - Brendon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

"So, how do we do this?"

"Let's do Pete first. You've never connected with someone have you?" Ray asked. Pete shook his head slightly. "Okay. I'm going to draw a six-pointed star. The six of you will need to sit at the points, Pete, you're going to need to choose your anchor." Pete frowned.

"What's an anchor?"

"Someone who you can rely on to keep you in check, to pull you back. They will take responsibility for everyone else keeping their minds safe while you concentrate on Alex," Priya answered for Ray. Ordinarily, Pete would chose Patrick without a second thought, but he hesitated, glancing between Priya and Pat. I understood why: He was about to enter Alex's head, and Priya had a deeper connection to Alex, but Pat knew people better. He chose Patrick in the end, but made sure that Priya was directly linked to him if he needed her. She smiled in appreciation as they took their seats at the points of the star.

"Pete, you sit in the middle. Patrick, you know how this works." Patrick nodded and grabbed Pete's hands, letting his fingers rest on Patrick's temples. "Patrick, don't fight Pete when he enters. Pete, focus on forming a bridge between your mind and Patrick's. Imagine it fusing and becoming solid, strengthen it until it can never break. Then forge outwards, find the others, make the connections." Pete closed his eyes furrowing his brow as he focused on his best friend. This time, the link formed quickly, Patrick's head throwing back and his eyes swirling the same violet shade as Pete's sunwalker eyes. Around him, five other sets of eyes lit up too. Almost before it had started, it was over and Pete's eyes were opening, flecked with the blue colours of Patrick, Joe and Andy's eyes and the brown shades of Tyler, Josh and Priya's eyes. It created a rather striking effect. They stood up and Ray nodded to Pete, who returned the gesture.

"I know." I told Ray as I sat in the centre, the members of MCR sitting down with Dallon and Spencer. I glanced between the two of them before choosing Ray as my anchor. It made sense given he had the most experience out of the seven of us. The connection swirled, forming on the edges of my mind before shooting like a laser and melding with Ray. His thoughts flooded my head as I focused on the others, more people linking in, one after the other. When it was done, I opened my eyes, blinking and glancing round. I caught sight of a strange mix of blues, browns and hazel colours in my usually-brown eyes and smiled glanced at the rest of the room. Alex hovered in the doorway.

"You guys ready?" We nodded and headed to the bigger of the two living rooms, making ourselves comfortable, Pete and I sitting directly in front of Alex with the other twelve people in a ring around us.

"Okay. Whatever you do, don't let go or you'll break the flow of power. If you need to go to the toilet or have a drink or eat a sandwich, do it now." Seven people broke away to do any number of things, though they all returned inside of five minutes. "Okay. Pete and Brendon, hold hands." I glanced at Pete awkwardly until Ray rolled his eyes. "We're all grown ups. I think you can manage holding hands. Thank you. Now, put your other fingers on her temples. That will help you connect. Patrick and I are going to put our fingers on your temples and everyone else is going to hold onto each other's shoulders."

"Why?" Mikey asked.

"It works better than hand holding. If you're touching more, I guess the power flows easier. So, hands on shoulders." The group managed to hook hands over each other's shoulders, connecting together. Ray and Patrick glanced at us and nodded once before touching their fingers to our temples.

~~~~~~~~~~

_Have you ever dropped a stone into a pond and watched it slowly sink? That's how it felt. Drowning in the power coming from the ring of people. But Pete was next to me, all of my best friends were right here, I was okay. I just needed to direct the power somewhere. Pete's voice clanged through my mind and I saw him in front of me, not too far away. We joined hands as we free fell._

_'We need to get into her head. But I can't get a good hold on it,' Pete told me._

_'Neither. Someone said something about Telepathic and Empathic cores. Maybe we're looking for that.' It was difficult to think clearly, the power wrapping around us like a cozy, intoxicating layer or warmth and protection._

_'Mind and soul.' Pete winced. I knew he could feel it too. 'Maybe we have to convert the power to empathic and telepathic ability?' His lack of confidence gave no reassurance whatsoever._

_'Worth a shot. How?' I asked_

_"I don't know. Think hard and hope?' Apparently, that was enough. I felt a new kind of power click into place, flimsy and unstable whilst also being overwhelming. But at the same time, Alex appeared in front of me. Logical, sensible, mature Alex. That meant Pete had the emotional side of Alex. We needed to fuse the two together, fuse the power. I linked hands with Pete inside Alex's head and the two parts came together, became whole. Then, the lock appeared. I glanced at Pete._

_'I don't know how long I can hold onto this much power and I'd really rather not completely destroy Alex's mind.' Pete nodded._

_'So, let go.' I stared at the lock as the image of Alex shimmered and disappeared into thin air. Together, Pete and I raised our free hands, pointing our palms at the lock._

_As I imagined it happening, wave after wave flowed out of me and the power kept coming. Kept flowing. At first, I couldn't tell if anything was happening. Then there was a near-silent creak. A creak which grew louder by the second until the metal was shrieking in our ears. I blocked it out and demanded more power, pushing harder. Pete pushed the power towards the lock and the shrieking grew, the crack in the lock pulsing light, growing bigger._

_I don't know how long we were standing there, aiming the raw, untamed power at the lock at full force. It could have been hours or months, weeks or years. It felt like forever and no time at all. We all felt it when the lock finally did break. The shriek it let out wasn't just in Alex's mind. At the same time, we heard her scream penetrate our thoughts only moments before the lock shattered and exploded, sending us flying out of Alex's head and halfway across the room, heads banging hard against the wall._

Stars burst in my vision as the shrieking continued, on and on. It wasn't real, just the after-shock of the original sound. The voices had quieted too. The others had been thrown out of Pete's head and my head at the same moment we were thrown out of Alex's. I reached a hand towards the others but my vision blurred dizzyingly and the colours of the world faded to darkness.


	32. 01:24, 29th March 2010 - Alex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

The pounding in my head was the only thing to remind me I was still alive. Something had snapped in my mind and I felt it. I’d fallen into unconsciousness as soon as the vampire and the sunwalker had slipped into my mind. I awoke to find fourteen people unconscious on the floor, some of them bleeding worse than others. I healed them and left the room, left the house, wandered outside to walk. I wondered what day it was, what time. When you’re trapped in you own head, there is very little sense of time. For all I knew, weeks could have passed. 

My phone was lying in the bedroom the boys kept for me in case I had to stay the night and I was feeling weird, not particularly in the mood to climb two flights of stairs and navigate the corridor to find it. I studied my hands intently, trying to figure out what was different. The lock was broken. That was certain. I could feel the power roiling in my mind, restless. Eventually, I wandered back inside and glanced in to check if the boys and Priya were okay. When I determined they were, I decided to head out. After I changed my clothes. I was still wearing my teal hospital scrubs from my shift on the night of the 27th-28th. I hadn’t actually slept since then and I knew unconsciousness while supernatural beings delved into your brain didn’t necessarily count. I stripped my clothes and dumped them in the washing basket unceremoniously before taking a long cold shower. It woke me up a bit and I felt better afterwards than I had in a long time. I glanced at the clock on my way to get changed. 01:27, 29th March 2010. So not much time had passed at all. I changed into my hunting clothes - a suit I’d had designed, the dark grey fabric designed to blend into the buildings of LA during the night with plenty of places to store a blade. I downed four iced coffees and a couple of paracetamol to kill the headache before grabbing a blade from the umbrella stand and heading outside, stealing the motorbike Pete had decided it was a brilliant idea to buy. I parked it safely, knowing Pete would definitely attempt murder if the bike - which he named V - had been hurt. After my adrenaline levels spiked, it didn’t take long to attract a vampire or two. I was clumsy, slow, and the vampire’s nails cut through my skin where it was exposed at my shoulder. I winced as the cut healed - though it didn’t actually hurt - and stared at the vampire. It cocked it’s head to the side, dropping it’s stance, ready for anything. Almost anything. I lifted a hand and locked eyes with it. I could feel it’s very DNA. I reached for the strands and smiled as I began to unravel each strand, one by one at first, then more all at the same time until the vampire was reduced to nothingness. It took just shy of two minutes - far faster than any method a human could think of, but still slower than a celestial blade. I was glad. This way, the vampires would suffer.

~~~~~~~~~~

**05:37, 29th March 2010 - Pete**

Every joint, every bone, every muscle in my entire body ached. There were things aching which either I didn’t know I had or which should definitely not be aching. I sighed and stood up slowly, swaying on my feet until I regained my balance, which almost definitely took longer than it should have. I glanced around the room and realised it was like being in the middle of a real life sleeping beauty - with more blood and less beautiful girls, unless you could count Mikey as a girl. My joints popped as I stretched. As far as I could smell, no one was bleeding anymore. Alex was missing, but I was not in any mood to go looking right at that point in time. 

I glanced around the room, finding only Brendon missing. Everyone was slowly beginning to wake up, so I left them and wandered to find my friend, glancing at the clock on my way out. Early in the morning, about an hour before sunrise. Though there was no sign of him in the house, I knew he had a place he went when he was thinking about something. I wandered onto the roof and smiled tentatively until I noticed the tear stained tracks running down his cheeks. I would have done anything for him then, anything to take away whatever was making him feel like this. He stared up at me as I lowered myself to sit next to him, leaning against the low wall surrounding the edge of the roof. He glanced at me and tentatively sat over my legs, his knees touching the roof on either side, needing to be close. I shifted him so that he was sitting more comfortably across my legs, letting him hang onto my neck. A flicker of fear and anxiety and worry reached me down our bond as he buried his face in my neck. Something was wrong, but I wasn’t sure he was ready to talk yet. It was nice to be able to do this. It wasn’t only Brendon and me who sometimes curled up together just to be close to someone. Most of us, at one point or another felt that connection or need for someone to understand them. According to Ray, the Greeks called it Philia - affection or love between friends and equals, brotherly love and loyalty. Seeing Brendon so upset about something made my heart ache to help him and if he just needed this, then that would always be okay with me. I buried my face in his neck, breathing in the scent of him. For whatever reason, it was calming. I wouldn’t push just yet; Brendon would tell me when he was ready.

Eventually, he lifted his head, his tears dried, but his lashes still damp. “I’m scared Pete.”

“Why?” I asked softly, not pushing.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “You won’t leave us again?” I frowned, wondering what on earth could have brought this on.

“You know I won’t.” Brendon nodded.

“I’ve missed you. It sucked but when we were with…him…we spent all our time together and now it’s like I hardly ever see you.”

“I’m always here.”

“But we’re living in different periods. I miss when it was just us and the darkness.”

“I understand.” 

“And I’m scared of Luka.” Brendon’s voice cracked a little. This was new. He was always the sort of person who got pissed when he was sad or scared. Crying was reserved for happy moments. His breathing quickened and I could sense the panic attack a mile before it happened.

“Brendon, breathe. We’re safe. We’re free.” He looked at me, eyes wild, and it was as if he didn’t know me at all. “Brendon, please, come on, breathe. Brendon.” He didn’t respond and I felt him slipping down our bond. “Brendon, I see you.” He sobbed into my shoulder for a long while after that.

“How did you know it would work?” He hiccupped through the end of his sobs.

“Saying I see you?” He nodded. “It’s something Patrick and I say to each other. Sometimes, he feels like people might look at him, but they don’t really see him. I do too, sometimes it’s like people see our music and they think they know us, but they’re not necessarily seeing us. I think everyone feels like that sometimes. It’s just nice to know that someone understands you.”

“I don’t know why I’m so freaking terrified. I’m sorry. I’m being clingy.” He made a move to get up but I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him back.

“No, you’re not. You need this. We’ve got twenty minutes or more until you have to go back inside. I can stay for twenty minutes. Never apologise for having feelings, B.” He swallowed and gave me an appreciative smile. We sat in on the roof a good while longer than twenty minutes, calming Brendon down enough that he fell asleep, his head resting on my chest. I sighed and smiled, lifting him up and carrying him all the way back down to his bed in the basement, tucking him in and sighing as I left him to sleep. Patrick hovered on the landing of the first floor as I headed upstairs to my own bed in the room I’d let Patrick decorate since apparently I had zero taste in wallpaper. Or paint combinations.

“Is he okay?”

“Just tired. Tired and scared. We all are. But a little ‘Adelfikés stigmés filía’ and he calmed down. He said he misses me.” Patrick shrugged and sighed.

“I’m not surprised. You’re his sire, Pete, he’s connected to you in a way none of us could ever understand. And you’ve been a little distant lately, not by your own fault, I understand that, but even so. We could all do with more of those ‘brotherly moments of friendship’.” I nodded and sighed.

“I’ll try and be here more often. For him and for you.” He smiled and yawned.

“I’m going to have a shower. I’ve got blood in my hair. Mine, I think. Don’t suppose you have any idea what the hell happened?” I shook my head.

“One moment we were blasting the lock with every ounce of power we could pull out of you and then we were colliding with the wall like everyone else.” Patrick sighed.

“Once we’ve all had at least ten hours to sleep and recharge, plus a few hours to attempt to relax, even if that’s only a hot shower or a long bath, then we’ll go and find Alex. But not before. We’re all exhausted and I don’t know about you, but if I don’t fall into bed within the next hour I am probably going to pass out.” I nodded in agreement. 

“Yup. I’m going straight to bed. I’ll shower and change the sheets when I’m not asleep on my feet.” We parted ways and I headed straight for my bedroom, slumping down after barely managing to take off my clothes, just about succeeding at wrapping the duvet in a suitably comfortable position and falling asleep almost before I had even finished closing my eyes.


	33. 22:53, 3rd April 2010 - Luka

"This will work," my mate's voice whispered into my ear. I leashed the growl in my throat and settled for wrinkling my nose.

"We need to find them," I said sharply. Her fingers traced my jaw and I turned to look at her. 

"We will," she purred. I knew that. I knew the plan was coming along perfectly. But there was a nagging doubt in my mind - a result of the jagged edges of the bridge which had been torn from its place only months ago. I sent pulses of psychic energy down the rest of the bridges in my head, reminding my sire-bonded of who they were loyal to. Impatient and frustrated, I stood up and swept out of the room, my mate close behind. "What worries you?"

"I do not know," I admitted.

"Do you doubt us?" I shook my head. "Come on. Let us hunt. It may take your mind off these things." I sighed and nodded.

"I think that is a very good idea. I wish to visit 17." She nodded and smiled, linking her fingers through mine.

"Put the bad thoughts out of your mind. Tonight we hunt. When we are done, we will get back to business." She opened the door and tugged me out into the night air. I breathed deeply and let my instincts kick in. I opened my eyes, my vision tinged with red, so many heartbeats echoing in my ears. She grinned and we stalked further out into LA. I rifled through the heartbeats, listening for the perfect one. A group of girls returning from a concert twelve blocks away. A couple of men headed to a pub seven blocks in the opposite direction. A large group of stargazers heading out to the hills behind the city. My mate glanced at me and nodded. We picked up speed rapidly, heading towards the sound of the engine and the heartbeats and the voices. There were at least eleven of them, if not more. We hid in a side street until they got close enough, when I stepped out, bracing for impact and stopping the first car easily. I flicked red eyes up to the humans and terror crossed their faces. I grinned as she blocked the three cars' routes backwards. I jumped onto the bonnet of the first car, then onto the roof, punching through the panoramic sunroof and hauling the first human out by their jacket.

~~~~~~~~~~

The haze of the hunt put me in a considerably better mood. We left the scene for a hunter or the police to find, making sure we hadn't left any evidence behind which they might attempt to trace us with. "So, 17?" I nodded as we ran towards the checkpoint and the vampire I'd put in charge. She bowed as my mate and I entered.

"Alpha," she said, dropping to one knee.

"Get up, Lucianna. How many do you have here on a regular basis?" She stood up and moved behind her desk.

"On a regular basis?" I nodded. "About two hundred and thirty, but we have forty who visit once or twice a week and another twenty or so stragglers every morning."

"I have a message for them." She nodded.

"Do you wish to tell them yourself or would you like me to convey it?"

"I am not staying. You will tell every vampire who moves through here to prepare. We are turning LA. Everyone over age seventeen." A devious smile spread across her face, echoing the look on my mate's face, though mine remained neutral.

"Of course. Is there a date?"

"Not yet. When there is, I will tell you, but given the sheer number of hunters after us, I think it is unwise to tell anyone until the night before." Lucianna nodded.

"That is wise, Alpha." My mate grinned as we turned to leave. "Oh, Alpha? One of the vampires who was here a yesterday night said that there is another alpha in town. From India I believe." I turned slowly.

"Indeed? It seems we have a meeting to set up," I told my mate, who nodded. I turned to Lucianna. "Next time you have information of this nature, tell me straight away. Do not wait." She bowed her head.

"I apologise Alpha. It will not happen again." I nodded sharply as my mate and I took off back towards the base. An alpha would be giving off a significant amount of energy - more than an average vampire - but I hadn't noticed it. I'd been too caught up in my plan that I hadn't even sensed something was off. Now that I concentrated, I could tell. The mental signature was across the city, but I noticed it now. I glanced at my mate - she could sense it too.

"Find out the address. Let's invite this alpha to talk."

~~~~~~~~~~

**19:27, 4th April 2010 - Priya**

The letter came almost a week after we'd released Alex's powers. I hadn't seen her, she hadn't called or texted and there was a deep concern burrowing its way into my chest.

Brendon and Pete had been helping me build a barrier in my mind to protect against any potential psychic invasion Luka might deploy should he invite me to meet with him. Their group were nice, so different from each other and yet they got along perfectly. The vampires I'd brought with me were on edge - possibly from the lack of human blood, but I'd promised Alex and the others that no one would die by our hand - not that people died in our city, it was one of my rules, to take only what was necessary to survive. But we were guests in their city and we needed to act respectfully and if that meant not touching the humans, that was okay with me, even if it was difficult. None of them had complained yet, thankfully.

The letter came on the evening of the fourth. A thick, heavy, creamy white paper with _'Alpha'_ written in bronze ink on the front and a wax seal in the same colour on the back, bearing an insignia, the same one Pete bore on his wrist - though Patrick was taking him to get it tattooed over at some point. I swallowed and opened the letter. The paper smelled of bonfires, cinnamon and autumn, despite it being the middle of spring, but there was another scent - iron. Inside was a letter, the handwriting as neat and perfect as calligraphy, but in brown-red ink. I swallowed. The iron scent was from the ink - not the paper - meaning he'd written in blood. Human, by the scent of it. I almost burned the short letter right there and then, but I knew we had to keep Luka in the dark, so I read it, slowly and carefully.

_Alpha,_

_I was recently informed of your visit to my city - and by extension, my state and my sector. You and your clan members are welcome here as long as you wish to stay, I request only that you follow custom and arrange to meet with me at your earliest convenience._

_Regards,_

_Luka Del Moriay  
Alpha of the city and county of Los Angeles, the state of California and the West Coast, Beta of America._

I read the letter twice more before putting it carefully down on my table. Nerves writhed in my gut. I would have to write a reply and send a messenger to one of the checkpoints. I pulled out my phone and called Alex to let her know, but it went straight to voicemail. _'Hey, it's Priya. Luka wants to meet. We need you back. Call me. Please. Love you.'_ I left the message on her voicemail hoping desperately she'd return. I dialled a second number and it rang once before someone picked up.

"Alpha," Niya's voice echoed a little down the phone line, "what can I do for you?"

"Can you come over? Luka wants to meet. I have to send a reply and I want your input." There was a faint ruffling at the other end.

"Be there in two minutes," she said, hanging up. I sighed and leaned against the headboard of Alex's bed. Since I'd arrived in LA, she'd let me stay in the spare room of her flat, but now that I hadn't seen her in a while, I was missing her more than I thought I would. Her scent, her smile, her charm. Everything. I'd taken to sitting in her room among the things which carried her scent, the scent of spices from home, the scent of the soap I sent her twice a year. I thought it was a stupid present, but she said it reminded her of me and she couldn't buy it in the US. 

I sighed and buried my face in her pillow until the buzzer rang and I had to let Niya in. "Hey. Started yet?" I shook my head.

"I was waiting for you. Did you bring the kit?" She nodded and slumped on the bed as I sat at Alex's desk to begin writing. I printed _'Luka Del Moriay'_ clearly on the envelope. Just as his paper carried the scent and colours of his clan, so too did mine. Alex once told me it smelled like jasmine and wildflowers, with subtle hints of spices similar to the ones used in her soap. 

"Okay, begin with his full title - however he ended his letter. That way you're showing respect for him. Gimme his letter." I rolled my eyes and handed her the letter Luka had sent me. She read it over under her breath and studied it for a long while before saying anything. "He wrote this in human blood." It was less of a question and more of a statement, but I still answered.

"Yeah."

"I'm so glad we're helping take him down. Humans are not his personal ink cartridge. You'd better be a damn good actress." She glanced up at me.

"You're my beta. We're both going. What do I write next?" Niya stared at me for a second, checking whether or not I was serious. When she realised I was, she shivered and swallowed.

"Well, he mentions his city, so a compliment might put us in his good books." I sighed, hating that I had to compliment him when he was so... He wasn't worth finishing the thought. But admittedly, the city of Los Angeles was beautiful. "Then thank him for his offer to let us stay - his hospitality, I guess." It was almost painful to write the words when I knew who they'd be going to. "And finally, agree to meet. Set a date and time, within the next few days preferably. And ask where he wants to meet." I set the date and finished the letter, handing it to Niya to read through.

" _'Luka Del Moriay, Alpha of the city and county of Los Angeles, the state of California and the West Coast, Beta of America,_

_Your city is beautiful and we have felt at home ever since we arrived. We thank you for your kindness and hospitality in allowing us to stay. My beta and I would hope to meet with you and any beta you care to bring at 11pm on the 7th of this month if that would fit with your schedule. I await news of a suitable location for our meeting._

_Sincerely,_

_Priya Hal  
Alpha of the city of Indore, Beta in the state of Madhya Pradesh in the country of India.'_" 

I shrugged as she studied me. "It's short and to the point," I reasoned. Niya nodded.

"Definitely. I think this should be fine. I can find a vampire in his clan to give it to if you want." I shook my head and stood up, taking the letter back and sealing it with navy blue wax and my clan's seal.

"No. I want Milo to do it. I need you here." She nodded and I texted Milo to come and pick up the letter to be dropped off with one of Luka's clan this evening, stressing its urgency. There was a tightness as Milo sped off with the letter as I realised how little time we had left to prepare. I doubted my acting skills. I doubted whether Luka would believe our story. I doubted everything about the plan. I needed Alex. Despite her energy, she'd always been able to calm me down when I got too stressed or had a panic attack, though I had no idea how. I lay back on the bed trying to slow my breathing. Niya sat next to me.

"Alpha?" Her voice, despite being beautiful, grated against my ears. Through my haze of panic and confusion, I heard the door quietly click closed, a hand sliding into mine. I flicked my eyes open and wrapped my arms around Alex, as she returned the hug. 

"I need you," I whispered into her ear. Not 'I love you' because we knew that already. I need you, because it was the truth. And when we said it, it meant that one or both of us were not in a great place, so we would put aside what we were doing and spend time together. It was important and I never realised how much I needed it until she came home.


	34. 7th April 2010 - Pete

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
> 
> _I am now back at school, so I probably won't be posting as often. I'll still try to post once a week, but likely not more than that - though if inspiration strikes, I could well end up posting more than one chapter._

Priya spent the three days until her meeting with Luka psyching herself up. By the time the night came around, she was ready to act exactly as she would need to. Innocent and unaware of our plans, but happy to comply with his. Alex offered to go with her repeatedly, but Priya declined, knowing Alex's presence there would put Luka on our trail even more than he already was. And with Alex's new abilities attempting to rip everyone apart, we couldn't afford for her to get too close.

Yet.

We needed to know how many of Luka's clan were in on his plans, how many of them wanted this to happen. Otherwise, we could cut off one head only to have five more appear. Priya had chosen one of her betas to accompany her, a relatively young female named Niya. She was feisty and had a mane of bright red hair which - despite her nocturnal habits - managed to maintain its colour. I was fairly certain the two of them could handle Luka, but there was a nagging doubt at the edges of my mind. I'd warned people not to get involved, even if Luka suspected something was wrong. We couldn't reveal ourselves, not when we were so close to bringing him down. But with Panic! about to be taken out of the equation due to recording and MCR already at maximum in their involvement due to their recording schedule, the timing was all wrong. If we attacked now, not at full strength, and somehow missed one of his betas, we would doom ourselves. But, if we waited, Luka could move. For all we knew, he planned to do it in the middle of summer to weed out the weak or stupid, leaving only the best. If he did it then, we would have no way of stopping him, not with seven of thirteen of us out of action. In the meantime, I decided it was time for Fall Out Boy to have a sit-down with this new band, to figure out their motives. I gathered the six of us for the evening, knowing it was the only thing that might take my mind off the conversation which was happening simultaneously across the city.

"So. You're new," I stated bluntly, nerves edging my voice far more than was necessary.

"Yes?" One of them answered. He seemed nervous, but he breathed out slowly and sighed. "I'm Josh, this is Tyler. We're from Twenty Øne Piløts and yes, you're right, it is a new band." I relaxed as he did, my heart beat slowing and steadying. Patrick's warmth pressed into my side helped.

"And the hunting?"

"Not quite. Our parents both had hunting in their past. We didn't get into it as much until recently though. Only last year around the time the album dropped. Dallon told us about Brendon and what you guys were doing. We wanted to help, especially since we have our own...powers," Tyler replied. Joe raised his eyebrows.

"Powers?"

"We both have celestial great-grandparents. It's strange actually. For both of us, both our parents were a quarter celestial so we are too. Tyler's...fast." Josh almost grinned as he glanced at the singer.

"How fast?" Tyler shrugged.

"I don't know. I never measured it. But Josh is strong. The amount of drum skins we've gone through..." They both winced at the same time Patrick and Andy did. Damaged or torn drum skins was one of Patrick and Andy's pet hates and we found it hilariously funny - including when we were on tour. Then, it was likely that whoever was in charge of the maintenance of the drums would be violently threatened by either the drummer or the singer, and usually it was both. It was particularly hilarious to watch the maintenance kid - usually a scrawny nineteen to twenty-something year old with glasses and a nerdy appearance - scramble back to attending to the drums once Patrick and Andy were finished being annoyed. Once it was a burly man who seemed to be twice Patrick's height but no less intimidated by Patrick's lecture on how the show couldn't run if the drums were damaged. Joe and I laughed for a solid twenty minutes, especially when Patrick stormed off to do his soundcheck, a scowl still all over his face. It was considerably worse when Brendon and Spencer were around. But, even we were annoyed if the problem hadn't been fixed before the show. Patrick was right about there being no show without the drums.

"Thank you for including us. We never thought we'd get to meet you in real life." Patrick blushed furiously but I smiled and shrugged.

"We needed help. If Gigantor trusts you, I do too."

"So glad we're not the only ones who think he's ridiculously tall."

~~~~~~~~~~

**7th April 2010 - Priya**

I was pretty sure the meeting would go badly. So sure that I almost didn't go. The knowledge of what he could do to Niya and the rest of my clan by hurting me was dissuading enough on its own, without the warnings from Pete and Brendon and their bands. By the time we actually arrived at the agreed meeting place, my nerves had disappeared, replaced with stubborn confidence which had me throwing my shoulders back and lifting my chin at the door. Even that couldn't stop the small gasp which escaped my lips as we entered. Luka was dressed in a burnt orange tunic with gold and red embroidery, dark brown leather boots polished to perfection. For an alpha of such a big area, it was relatively relaxed attire. I took in the rest of the room, the marble floors which had veins of red running through them, the pillars holding up the ceiling, the glass skylight casting the silver moonlight in shades of red. I knew Luka's eyes were supposed to be silver, but they glowed red - whether from the lighting or his attempt to intimidate us, I wasn't sure. His mate - Elle - sat on the arm of his throne in a lavish gold and red ball gown. For whatever reason, they'd put a lot of effort into this meeting. I was only wearing a pair of navy blue jeans and a burgundy hoodie and I felt more than a little underdressed. I swallowed and glanced at Niya as we walked towards him, dropping to one knee. "Alpha," I addressed him. Technically speaking, I ranked lower than him which meant in an official situation such as this, I should only speak when spoken to, but it made my skin crawl having to bow to an Alpha who wasn't mine. Especially one as sadistic as him. Because aside from the lavish decorations, I'd also spotted eight humans pinned to the walls with their necks slit, bleeding out into large containers.

"Stand, Priya Hal, Alpha of Indore, Beta in the state of Madhya Pradesh in the country of India." That was a good sign. If he'd taken the time to memorise my full title, that meant he didn't intend to kill me or immediately kick me out of his territory. "So, Priya Hal, what brings you to my territory?"

"Word of your...plans...reached me. My clan and I were interested. We think it is an excellent idea," I said the words we'd rehearsed slowly, convincingly, aware of the barriers in my mind. "We wish to join you. For too long, the Council has kept us in the shadows. We deserve to be seen. To be feared." Luka narrowed his eyes, but eventually, a sly smile crept across his face, a smile which sent a shiver down my spine.

"Indeed? You wish to sire members of my city?"

"Not at all. Your territory, your rules. I simply wish to ally with you. Perhaps even enact a similar plan in my own city." Now I was just bluffing, hoping desperately that Luka would take the bait. Niya glanced at me, but maintained a look of casual boredom - not the best attitude when facing an alpha of such a high rank - but it was pre-prepared and required very little effort to maintain, meaning she could keep track of the shields around her mind and the connection between our minds and Pete's. If Luka got any hints that we might be working with his former beta, he would command us to leave LA, and he had the advantage of rank to use over us. If necessary he could use an Alpha command, one which even I couldn't ignore. Technically, it was illegal to use one on anyone outside of your clan, but that didn't mean the council were particularly bothered when it came to protecting the younger, newer, weaker alphas from the older ones who were used to getting their own way.

Luka stood from his throne and strode towards us. "I believe you would make a good ally. My betas and I shall consider your offer. For now, would you care to join us. We're going on a hunt tonight."

"I will have to decline. My clan members are expecting me back. We have business to attend to with my alpha." Luka nodded and smiled graciously, waving a hand for one of his Sentinels to direct us back towards the door.

"Of course. Maybe next time?"

"Maybe," I replied, masking the slight tremor of fear which ran down my spine like a waterfall of spiders. With that, we left and returned to Alex's flat. I wanted a shower. Just being near him made me feel unclean.

~~~~~~~~~~

**7th April 2010 - Luka**

"Do you trust her?" Elle asked. I contemplated the question. On one hand, an ally halfway across the world would be useful in making our point, but on the other hand, there was something...off.

"I am broadly undecided on that. She provides great potential, but I have doubt whether her motives are true to our cause." Elle nodded sympathetically and sighed, standing up and stretching. 

"I'm going to change. Then we shall hunt." I grinned and laced my fingers together behind her back, bringing her waist closer to mine.

"This is right. We deserve this." Elle nodded, but didn't say anything, letting me work through my thoughts at my own pace. "The council is too young. They don't see how powerful we could be. Humans never treated us this way when I was first turned. They feared and revered us. Why doesn't the council understand that?" Elle laced her fingers through my hair.

"Because they can't see the same things you do. Most of them are too young to remember and the older ones have become complacent." I stared down at my mate.

"You're incredible." She grinned and twisted out of my grip, grabbing my hand.

"Come on. Let us hunt."


	35. Silence...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
> 
> 3rd person PoV

Priya's meeting with Luka marked the beginning of a period of silence. Too much nothing happened. Priya had found out that Luka's plans would not happen until at least August, if not later, so the collective bands had months to find him. 

When no one had seen him for a good few weeks, the hunters slowly began to leave, promising they'd be back when the time came. Eventually, they'd all disappeared and Priya sent her Beta back to India with the rest of her homesick clan, only remaining behind so she could meet with Luka if he called for her again, and to help Alex get a better grip on her new abilities.

Then, Brendon, Dallon and Spencer launched into recording their next album. With them out and MCR out and Fall Out Boy split up, they were down to only one fully-functional band.

The next three months were uneventful and quiet. Too quiet. The vampires had withdrawn and there was no trace of them to be found anywhere. If anything, it set their nerves on edge more knowing Luka and his clan either weren't around and killing people out in the open or that they'd disappeared off somewhere else. Also, despite their previous encounters, Alex didn't have any DNA she might be able to trace. 

And so, for three months, they did nothing, carrying on with their lives as if nothing was ever wrong.


	36. 3rd August 2010 - Pete

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

"Alex. Can I talk to you?" The healer frowned but nodded.

"What's up?"

"When it comes to Luka, to killing him?" I bit my lip and studied her. "Let me do it?" She tilted her head. "It's just, he turned me, this whole thing started with me and him. I need to be the one to end him." She nodded and rubbed her forehead.

"I know. But revenge won't get you anywhere. I ensured the men who killed my parents died, but the aching, the longing for what you lost, it never goes away."

"I know that. I know I can't be human again."

"Good. And Brendon?" I swallowed and didn't reply. "You know something's wrong, don't you?"

"I don't know what it is. He's...lost." Alex nodded.

"I know why." I frowned at her. "You're his sire and you spend almost no time together. He's confined to the night where you're free to walk in the day. When you jumped, something in him snapped. Honestly, this moping and hiding from the rest of us is probably because of you." I continued frowning. "Pete, your psychic link doesn't just connect your minds. It connects your physical bodies, feelings, including pain. When you jumped, Brendon felt it. There are no words to describe it." There was a thud as I leaned against the wall and slid down it.

"I did this?"

"Maybe, but it doesn't make it your fault." I shook my head.

"I have to fix this. What if I make him like me? A sunwalker." Alex's gaze shifted to meet mine.

"You know what that means?" I closed my eyes.

"Yes."

"And you're willing to do that to him?" Now, I opened my eyes and stared dead into hers.

"Yes." She sighed.

"Good." My gaze shifted.

"What?"

"We need Brendon at full strength. Even with him, we'll be at a disadvantage, but without him, we'd be dead on the floor in minutes. If that's what it takes... I'm in. But, I would talk to the others first. Gather everyone together. We still have to call all the other hunters in." I nodded and she smiled slightly, wrapping her arms around my neck. I hugged her back and sighed.

"Let's do this."

~~~~~~~~~~

It didn't take long for us to gather everyone together. Now that Alex had Luka's DNA stamp, she could find him anywhere, anytime. It's funny who you run into at midnight in the park. 

I glanced at Brendon sitting between Dallon and Spencer. He looked terrible. Exhaustion had made purple rings circle his eyes, his face had become hollow. He'd lost weight. Both Dallon and Spencer were concerned, but their band mate was still a vampire, still in possession in two sets of fangs and still fully capable of ripping them apart if he lost his temper. Alex had tried healing whatever was broken, but it hadn't worked and as far as we could see, this was the only way. She stood smoothly from her seat and wandered over, smiling gently and helping him out of the room. She would talk to him in the basement while I discussed it with the rest of our group.

When everyone quieted, I leaned back in my chair. "One weeks. One week and we are bringing Luka down. Call your contacts, tell them to bring everyone and anyone they can find." Some people were silent at the news, others murmured quietly, others snarled softly under their breath. Patrick looked me straight in the eye.

"Good," he said simply.

"Now, to the task at hand. Brendon. We all know he's...wrong. I have a way to fix him, but you're not going to like it." Now, silence fell over the room. "I'm going to make him a sunwalker." Still, the silence echoed on. "It sucks. But I'd rather have a pissed off but powerful Brendon that whatever is in that basement." Gerard glanced at me.

"You're sure?" I nodded and he glanced at the folder in front of him on the table. "I made this. It's a list of Celestials who have killed humans, there's not very many, but there are some. Perhaps he will feel better if the celestial is not truly good." I smiled appreciatively and glanced between Patrick, Dallon and Spencer. Their faces remained impassive. "If I didn't have to do this, I wouldn't, but...I can't leave Brendon like this. Not when it's my fault. Anyway. We're done. If you need to leave then go. If you need to talk, I'll be here for another hour before..." I didn't finish. Most people stood up, chairs scraping as they left. Ray patted me on the back and nodded as he left and I smiled appreciatively, breathing out. My band, Dallon and Spencer had stayed behind. 

"I know Brendon needs this, but it still freaking sucks." Spencer said into the silence. Dallon nodded in agreement and sighed.

"We'll be here, waiting for when he gets back. We're not going to argue. This is for Brendon." The others nodded and echoed his comment.

"For Brendon." Dallon gave a half smile as he and Spencer disappeared. Joe glanced at me.

"I know we can never begin to understand whatever it is you two have, but are you willing to risk it? For this?" I considered his question.

"Yes. I have to. When I..." I glanced at Patrick. "I jumped because I didn't see the point. Of this. Of us. Of anything. And Brendon felt it. I didn't even think about Brendon then, only about myself. The thought of him feeling that way, because of me? I just...I can't...I can't begin to describe it." They nodded and Joe stood up.

"If we have to, we'll make him see sense. This will benefit all of us, but you're doing this because you understand. If the positions were reversed, Brendon would do the same for you." I gave him a half-smile.

"Thank you. We're in this together, until the end and after." The others nodded and I left with a nod and the faint reassurance that this was right.

~~~~~~~~~~

We'd run for miles and I still hadn't told him where we were going or what we were doing. When we stopped, I glanced around, checking to make sure no one was watching before lifting the hatch hidden under the grass and ushering Brendon down into the chamber beneath. We clearly surprised the celestial who turned, eyes lighting up blue as a wave of telekinetic power flung us into the corrugated wall. I winced and focused on his mind, trapping it and freezing it in place as my finger touched his temple. Brendon frowned at me. I glanced at the plastic factory curtain splattered with red and the scent of iron. Brendon pushed through the curtain and almost vomited onto the floor. 

Through the link in our minds, I borrowed his eyes. Four bodies lay on the floor, dismantled, each one bagged and labelled meticulously. Four heads sat on a shelf. When Brendon caught sight of them, his nose wrinkled into a snarl. All four were children. He turned to the celestial, ripping his dagger from the sheath on his hip. I closed my eyes, pressing my finger harder into the celestial’s temple and sending out waves of sound which radiated through his head, making blue blood leak from his nose and ears, even his eyes. And Brendon was hungry. He'd been refusing to drink for weeks so now that this was there, hot and fresh and spilling out, his instincts took over, brown eyes glowing red as two sets of elongated canines slid into place with a near-silent click.

Seconds later, they were buried in the celestial's neck.

Minutes later, the celestial was lying dead on the floor and Brendon's eyes were flickering between red and violet. They eventually settled on violet and he shrieked at the top of his lungs, emitting a powerful wave of sound which we later discovered wiped out the electricity everywhere within a five mile radius of the tiny underground bunker. His inner fangs pushed out in a sped-up version of a child losing their teeth, leaving only the ones covering his canines, the same as mine. Eventually, he dropped to his knees and I caught him before his head hit the ground, leaving him underground for his biology to re-order itself. I emerged into the early morning air, breathing in the scent of freshly cut grass and watching the dewdrops soak into my walking boots. I wouldn't return with Brendon before he'd finished transitioning, before he understood why I'd done it. 

I was half asleep when there was a banging from underneath me. I stood up and pulled open the hatch, exposing Brendon to the sunlight. I glanced at my watch. 10:46. "Morning sunshine." Brendon hissed.

"What the...? Why am I not burning?" A wave of guilt blew through me, but I ignored it. 

"You're like me now. No more hiding." Brendon glanced at me as I flicked violet eyes at him. He frowned and turned, staring at the body of the celestial, the last drops of blue blood drying on his neck. Brendon swore.

"You made me turn again? You made me kill someone," he hissed and shoved me, hard. "You're an arrogant ass," he spat the last word at me with as much venom as I'd ever seen him muster.

"You needed it. Besides. That...thing...was killing children," I argued.

"God you're a prick." Funnily enough, I grinned.

"You're back then?" Brendon rolled his eyes and snarled playfully.

"Of course I'm back. You a freaking idiot too?" I laughed and hugged him briefly.

"We missed you."

"Well duh. I'm charming." I arched an eyebrow and he rolled his eyes. "What did I miss?"

"A lot. We have six days. We're gathering everyone together and then...then we're taking him down." Brendon nodded, suddenly serious.

"Good." He breathed in a long breath, taking in the scent of dew and grass still lingering in the air, staring upwards at the pale blue sky, lazy white clouds drifting past at a snail's pace. He set his shoulders, throwing them back and straightening up, reaching his full height - admittedly not _that_ tall, but still three inches taller than me - and scenting the direction of the wind, facing towards LA, towards home. "Good."


	37. The End of All Things...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 10th August 2010
> 
> Patrick's PoV

We called every hunter who had been with us earlier in the year. They all told us they’d be there and by the second and third days, the ones from closer to home had arrived. By the fourth and fifth days, the ones from further afield arrived – including Priya’s entire clan, not just the representatives she’d brought the first time. The hunters claimed they had something up their sleeves; something which would come in should it all go badly. The seventh day after our meeting was tense, everyone gathered together in one place, everyone nervous about what would happen.

I was standing in the foyer of Patrick's huge house, what we’d decided was ‘HQ’, as the clock ticked past seven. Pete glanced at me. “Alright, suit up!” People scurried in various directions to gather their kit. I turned to go, but Pete caught my arm. I frowned.

“Pete?”

“No,” he said softly.

“What do you mean?” You need me out there with you, fighting vampires.” Pete shook his head slightly.

“No, I need you here. Safe.”

“Since when has my safety been any of your concern? Or even on your priority list?” Pete flinched. I regretted the words as soon as I spoke them, but it was too late to take them back.

“Since you’re my best friend. Since forever, Patrick. You’ve had one too many close scrapes.”

“That never bothered you before,” I argued. Pete growled, the sound low in his throat, reverberating in my chest.

“That’s not true. I’m just not…I’m not turning another friend.” I frowned and tilted my head, confused.

“That’s what you’re worried about? That you’ll have to turn me?” Pete ignored me, busy inspecting his immaculate celestial blade. “Pete, I don’t mind. I wouldn’t mind, not if I had you and the others.”

“You wouldn’t mind? Wouldn’t mind what? Being a monster for the rest of eternity?”

“You’re not a monster Pete. You’ve been manipulated and controlled and none of this was your fault.” Pete was silent, but I could tell he wasn’t convinced. “Please Pete, listen to me. None of us care what you are.” Pete turned, eyes violet, glowing. But there wasn’t hunger in them, just overwhelming sadness.

“Still think I’m not a monster?”

“Pete…” I stroked a stray strand of hair off his face. “You’re incredible. These,” I said, resting a finger either side of his eyes, “these don’t change that.” His hands rested over mine. He breathed in and hugged me.

“Fine. You can come. But stay out of the way, please?” I arched an eyebrow and made no promises as we wandered off to change.

~~~~~~~~~~

Everyone was changed and ready within half an hour and we set off towards the city. Thankfully, Luka’s base was in a relatively quiet area of town, and somehow Ray – Jet Star – had contacts which evacuated that area for tonight. We had code names and masks as well, so anyone passing by – though no one should be – wouldn’t be able to identify us. It wasn’t that we were criminals, rather that there were vampires everywhere, each one with allegiances in different places, including humans and not hiding our identities would be a suicidally stupid idea.

It took us just under an hour to reach Luka’s base. When we arrived, we were almost sure it was the wrong place, well-kept and rather elegant, but Alex, Pete and Brendon nodded and we knew. “How many?” I asked Pete.

“It’s hard to tell. A hundred, maybe more.” I almost swore. With only forty-odd of us? There was no way. The door opened and Luka strode out, dressed for dinner more than for a battle. Either he didn’t know we were coming or he was cocky enough not to care. Not that it mattered. He tilted his head at Pete and offered a half-smile, to which Pete snarled, eyes flicking into a circle of cold, hard violet. I winced. Bad choice Luka. 

In the corners of my eyes, movement alerted me to more than a hundred vampires appearing almost from out of nowhere, Elle with them in an old fashioned tunic and a pair of sports pants, two blades of a dark material glinting in the late evening light. Seeing the two forces opposite each other like that, it was obvious how outnumbered we were. The thought that Luka had thousands of vampires under his command and at his disposal in LA alone was worse. 

Pete frowned, turning to face our own force. “Pete? What is it?”

“People. Hundreds.” I frowned too, turning to look, but both of us were too short to see over the mass of people. “Dallon! Can you see?” Pete yelled to the tallest member of our entourage. The bassist’s eyes were wide and he nodded slightly. In front of us, the throng of people parted, revealing three people. Three tall people who I vaguely recognised. They stopped a good few feet away from us.

“Pete Wentz. It’s an honour.” They nodded their heads in recognition. Pete still frowned.

“Who are you? I know you from somewhere.” Half a grin appeared on their faces.

“Sam, Dean and Castiel Winchester, at your disposal,” the middle one spoke for them. Now I did swear. Our reputation was good, but theirs was insane. They’d been training for more than twenty years, hunting every type of vampire with every kind of power – shifting or kinetic. Their mother had been killed by a fire-wielding vampire when Sam was six months old. The vampire had been careless and young, wanting to make a vampire child, but they were unaware of the process. Even so, vampire blood had entered the youngest sibling’s biology, giving him prophetic psychic powers, weaker than Pete and Brendon’s but there, lingering under the surface. Dean, the middle child had a similar experience with celestial blood and had gained similar powers to his younger brother, minus the ability to dream the near future and move things with his mind. Castiel, the oldest, was adopted, a full-blooded Celestial. It was claimed he bore large wings like a starling, black with iridescent feathers, but they were missing. His beige trenchcoat, however, was firmly real and in place. Between the three of them, they had more kills than any other group – probably on the planet. The tallest, Sam, rolled his eyes and smiled.

"The hunters you met with in March/April, some of them were good friends of ours. They told us about this and asked us to get the word out. We have a lot of contacts. We are all here to help." Pete was entirely speechless.

"How many?" Castiel grinned in a way somewhere between Sam's smile and Dean's half-maniacal smirk.

"194." I glanced back at Luka, metres away. Fear was beginning to creep into his eyes. I restrained myself from hugging the giants. They glanced over my head at the leader of the LA clan. "That's him?" I nodded and all traces of the smiling, kind-hearted hunters disappeared, replaced with terrifying wrath. I swallowed and understood why their reputation was so huge. The three of them were tall and muscled more than any of us. Even Dallon, standing between Dean and Sam in height looked scrawny compared to the hunters. Pete glanced at them and they nodded. This was his call. Our force waited, poised to spit fire at those against us, for Pete's word. He stepped forward and walked towards Luka, gripping my hand so tightly I thought my bones would break. Luka and Elle strode towards us but stopped a good dozen feet away.

"We can stop this before it begins, Pete. Come back to the clan, it's where you belong." Pete hissed and stepped away from me, pushing me back and opening his arms wide, out to his sides.

"Go. To. Hell," he said, bringing his arms together and producing a sonic wave which sent Luka and his mate flying back over the ground and shattered the windows of Luka's HQ. With that signal, the speakers hidden around the street burst out with sound, music from the playlist the bands had chosen pouring out - songs which were supposed to give the feeling of being able to do anything. With a roar, our combined force sprinted forwards. As Castiel reached the first vampires, starling wings burst from his back and he pressed his palm to the vampire's forehead, a glow of blue light erupting as the vampire's eyes burned out of their sockets and he dropped to the floor, dead. My heart raced as he whirled, injuring or killing vampires faster than anyone else could seem to do it. Sam and Dean were close by, their celestial blades a terror-inducing whirl of wrath and fury.

Metres away from them, Tyler - Mad Gear - and Josh - Missile Kid - were unrecognisable. Tyler was a blur of yellow and black spots, pausing only long enough for us to catch a glimpse of a cheetah, muzzle stained red, familiar brown eyes attentive as a hoard of vampires closed upon him. Josh roared as a vampire jumped down from a nearby balcony, landing on top of his lion form, which then twisted out of the vampire's grip and snapped its neck, sending blood flying everywhere including his mane - which for some reason was streaked with random colours of the rainbow. 

I glanced at Pete, charging towards Luka with cooled, hard rage in his eyes. Then I glanced at Luka, standing at the back of his forces, letting them die for him. Around me, I saw my friends, lunging and parrying with their blades, cutting down Luka's vampires one by one. My Chem were a force of nature, the four of them advancing together, ignoring the snide comments the full blooded vampires threw at them. Brendon was a grim-faced 5ft9 ball of deadly fury, annihilating everyone in his way without a second thought, Dallon grinning next to him. Spencer, however, looked as if he might be ill. Andy's voice came through my earpiece - he'd asked to be on communication to coordinate the group. He was never fond of killing, even when it was necessary. "Pat! Behind you!" I whirled, finding two identical vampires creeping towards me. They barely had time to draw their blades before a black shadow appeared out of the sky, blue light erupting from the vampire's eyes before they fell to their knees. 

"Castiel," I breathed.

"Call me Cas. Take that one," he indicated to Spencer a few metres away, "to your communication set up. You're no use here." I wrinkled my nose.

"I hate it when Pete's right." I muttered. Castiel tilted his head in a frown for a moment before ducking, whirling, those black wings stirring the air as blue light erupted from yet another vampire. I handed him my earpiece and he covered me while I made my way to Spencer and we made it off the street and into the abandoned house nearby where Andy had set up upon arriving. He looked relieved to see us and we put on headsets, glancing at the screens. 

The carnage was like something out of a horror film. Gerard's bright red hair glinted under the street lamps, our colourful outfits standing out against the dark colours of the vampires. "Poison! Heads!" I yelled down the comm unit as I saw a vampire creep towards the edge of the roof, ready to jump onto Gerard's shoulders. Gerard glanced up right as the vampire jumped, blades raised. The vampire's head landed feet away.

I searched for Pete, finding him only metres away from a scared-looking Luka. Pete's voice echoed through his comms to me. "I can do this, can't I?" It wasn't really a question, but I answered anyway.

"Yeah. You're Revolution." 

"That's just a code name, it doesn't mean anything," he said, not even out of breath.

"Yes it does. It means everything. All you have to do is remember who you're fighting for. For your friends, your band, your family. For Bronx and the others. If we fail, they all die, Pete. You're Revolution and you can do this." In the monitor, Pete's shoulders set and he renewed his efforts, doubling his strength. The opposition fell, one after another after another.

"Thanks Dr Benzedrine," Pete's slight panting distorted the words.

"Always my pleasure," I replied. I glanced through the monitors, catching sight of Fun Ghoul, ferociously fighting the vampire, who frankly didn't stand a chance. Parenthood had given the youngest member of MCR something to fight for and there is no way Frank would risk losing it. Gerard fought in a similar fashion. It dawned on me as I watched them. We would win. 

Apparently, the thought dawned on everyone else too. Some of the human hunters had died or been wounded and most of our clique had little cuts somewhere or other. My gaze shifted to the two red-stained balls of fur which marked Tyler and Josh out from everyone else. Josh was missing a chunk of his mane and Tyler... I watched as a vampire thudded into the singer at full force, listening to the sickening crunch before Josh tore the vampire apart. Tyler's front left paw hung wrong as he limped behind a house where we'd stashed spare sets of clothes. Unlike in the films, shifting back did not mean you get to keep your clothes, apparently. I glanced at Spencer who nodded and sprinted down the stairs to find them. "Spence? What's going on?" He cursed loudly and I winced.

"It's fine. Tyler's dislocated his shoulder, that's all. You're an idiot, you know that?" He said to Tyler. "Josh. Go help the others. Tyler you're coming with me. Oh, and Josh, if you find Alex, let her know Tyler's injured." Moment later, Spencer appeared with Tyler who smiled awkwardly and winced. Andy put down his headset.

"Let me see. I did a first aid course not that long ago." Tyler was shirtless anyway, so Andy studied his shoulder, feeling the joint. "I'm going to try and put it back in." I glanced at Andy, then at Tyler, who still seemed half-feral.

"If you shift on him and tear his arm off, just know I'm going to be pissed." I told Tyler, who nodded tightly. "What use is a one armed drummer?" Andy frowned at me rolling his eyes and studying Tyler for a second.

"Okay, on three. One, two..." Crunch. Tyler screamed as his shoulder popped back into place, fighting the automatic shift reaction which had his elongated canines flickering in and out. Though they ended up at his normal human size, his ears remained shifted, along with a rather odd-looking tail. When he'd gained control of his breathing, he swore violently before apologising profusely at Andy who raised an eyebrow. 

"I'm sorry. That hurt." Andy smiled a little and shrugged.

"It's okay. Patrick screamed like a little girl when he dislocated his knee." I glared at Andy and turned back to the computer screens. Pete was two vampires away from reaching Luka and the alpha looked scared. Something settled inside me, a righteousness that Luka needed to die and that he would. The vampires in his way died and then Pete stood in front of Luka. They didn't exchange words. They circled for a minute solidly and Pete sheathed his blades, bringing his fists up. Luka set his shoulders, standing a good eight inches taller than Pete and though I didn't want to watch, I couldn't tear my eyes away. Apparently, neither could Spencer or Andy. Luka threw the first blow, but Pete twisted, dancing out of the way and landing a blow to Luka's stomach. Luka returned it by blocking Pete's attempt to hit upwards under his chin and striking downwards on Pete's outstretched arm, which then hung limply at his side. A smile began appearing on Luka's face as Pete reset his clearly broken arm, circling Luka in an elaborate dance. Then, their motions sped up too fast to follow. One instant, Pete was lunging forward, the next there was nothing more than a blur, then Luka had him pinned down, growling, fangs exposed, eyes glowing red. But Pete hadn't done nothing over the last few years. We hadn't gone into this without at least a few lessons and Pete had taken extra classes in the last three months. He wriggled free, wrapping his legs around Luka's waist and flipping him, instantly gaining the upper hand. He drew his blade and pressed it flat against Luka's throat.

"Any last words?" Pete asked, his voice only just audible over the comms.

"This is the part where you monologue and I beat you and you rejoin the clan." Pete just smiled grimly.

"You know, those were terrible last words." With that, he lifted the dagger, plunging it hilt-deep into Luka's chest and stepping back as the celestial blade burned Luka from the inside out. In under a minute, he was nothing more than a pile of ash. The fighting stopped almost instantaneously as Luka's psychic hold over the vampires disappeared. Some of them collapsed, others stumbled, but most looked at the carnage around them and either cried or stood in shocked silence. A roar of victory echoed off the buildings, just as the playlist switched to _I Don't Care_. I grinned at the others in the room with me and we sprinted down the stairs to join the rest of our group. I caught up with Pete and grinned as he hugged me.

"You okay?" He nodded.

"Mostly. My arm might need a few hours to heal," he said mournfully, staring at his forearm. I winced. 

"Alex will help." He nodded again and slung an arm over my shoulders.

"We did it," he smiled out over the hunters and vampires.

"What now?" He shrugged.

"Bury the dead, respectfully, they deserve that much. And of the vampires in the clan, find out who was being controlled and who wasn't. Find Elle who managed to magically disappear in the middle of everything. I think after Luka, I might have to take over the clan for a little while, at least until the summit. After that, who knows." I glanced at the members of the various bands, mingling with the hunters, consoling those who had lost people and celebrating the victory. It had been a long time coming. I sighed and rested my head on Pete's shoulder. The Winchester brothers wandered over, nodding once in acknowledgement. Sam glanced at Pete.

"8th October. Something will happen in Nottingham, England. I haven't seen it yet, but it's important." Pete smiled.

"Thank you. And thank you for coming. You didn't have to." Dean grinned.

"And miss out on the fun?!" Castiel elbowed Dean.

"Our assistance seemed necessary - and inevitable - Sam dreamed us being here, so we came. He's usually right about these things." Sam blushed furiously and rolled his eyes. "But we do need to go home. I think we could all do with a few weeks off." I didn't argue. They said their goodbyes and climbed into their car - the famous black '67 Chevrolet Impala - the engine roaring to life a car as they drove away. Pete whimpered a little and I laughed at the look on his face, staring after the departing car he wanted so much. The hunters filtered away slowly, either back into LA for drinks or driving out to their own states or countries. MCR were the next to directly say goodbye, climbing into their customised killjoy car and driving away. Brendon dragged Dallon, Spencer, Tyler and Josh away and then, we were the only band left as Priya pulled Alex and her clan away. Andy and Joe joined us as we stared at the pile of ash where Luka had died.

"He's dead then?" Joe asked.

"One hundred percent," Pete replied with a smirk. The four of us stared over the empty street, looking at the bodies which remained, the vampires we'd killed since the hunters had taken their dead away to give them the proper hunter's funeral. One of the last things we did was call our contacts in the police who would deal with the dead vampires before heading home. 

Home because finally, the weight on our shoulders had lifted.


	38. The Summit and the Samhain Ball...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of August, September, October, beginning of November.
> 
> Brendon's PoV
> 
> Los Angeles, California --> Sweden --> Nottingham, England

At Ray's request and for the first time in the weeks since taking Luka down, we had all gathered together in the ballroom of our HQ. And it wasn't just us, each of us had been asked to bring a wife, girlfriend or other trusted female friend – a task which had proved far more difficult for some than for others. When the last of us arrived, Ray stood next to Alex on the stage-like platform at one end.

"Alright, listen up people. Since the LA clan is in pieces, Pete and Brendon have taken over, which means that in less than six weeks, they will be attending the Summit." All eyes darted a glance at the two sunwalkers but quickly returned to Ray as he began speaking again. "Having attended a good few Summits over the years, I have a decent level of qualification on the subject, so I'm going to teach them about the politics of the vampire world. Yay," he said, with the most dull, monotone voice and blank facial expression on the face of the planet. Alex grinned.

"However, the final three days of the Summit are...different, comprised of three days of solid parties, galas and dances, ending in the Samhain Ball. These traditions date back thousands of years, as do the dances. And that brings us nicely to the reason you are all here." A groan went up from most of the males in the audience, while the majority of females grinned.

"Given the age of the vast majority of dances, they've fallen out of fashion and none of you know them. Luckily, we are here to teach you." Now I understood the necessity for plain, comfortable clothes - most of us were in sweatpants and t-shirts, with the women in long skirts. "To begin with, your clothing is fine, but once you've mastered the dances, then we'll move on to attempting them in your costume suits." Ray grinned in a way I didn't like at all. As much as I loved costumes, his mildly creepy smile told me they would definitely not be the sort I was thinking of.

The dance lessons went well. While I managed to have some vague grace and elegance, Pete was extremely good at tripping over his own feet - and his partner's, despite the fact we weren't nearly as close together as I'd imagined we'd be. It was a far cry from the ballroom dancing I'd occasionally watched on TV and it was surprisingly difficult to pick up the actual steps, even if I had decent coordination and the ability to feel the beat. Sarah, however, managed to keep in time and in step perfectly.

~~~~~~~~~~

At the same time as having dance lessons, Ray also decided to teach us the politics of the last three centuries. It was dull, until he found a way of making the events infinitely more interesting by putting them to music. He coached us on how the Summit and the Council worked, who was important, what we should pay attention to. We learned the names of the alphas of each country and a few of their betas and enough to make small talk, but not much more than that, though Ray certainly tried his best.

At the same time, we had the LA clan to deal with. It was in pieces, members dead or scattered across the city. By the beginning of the sixth week, we’d just about managed to speak to every major member in order to gain a general census of who was in the city, who had died and who had left to go to other clans. Surprisingly, it didn’t take long to earn their trust. Most of them had known us when we were in the clan and even if we had been controlled by Luka at that point, our personalities really hadn’t changed that much. It was impossible to order every one of the thousands of vampires in the city not to drink blood, but we gave a no kill order on pain of infinite pain, which they seemed to realize we meant. The month of the Summit drew ever closer and we received a letter from the alpha of our country, ordering us to meet her in Sweden where the Summit was to be held. We left on the 29th of September, giving us plenty of time to arrive and settle in before the Summit began on the 1st of October.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ray had been right. For the first week of the Summit, Pete and I sat and watched. It was during the first week that the Council did their census, finding out who had died and who had been inducted into the vampire clans and filling in their names and details in a huge, ancient looking book. The second week of the Summit was focused on the biggest problems which would be dealt with exclusively by the two-hundred-odd alphas of entire countries, meaning we were not permitted entrance. 

It was nearing the end of the third week when Luka's case was called. The alpha of America - a young-looking woman named Charlie with red hair, violet eyes and a pale complexion - took to the speaker's stand. "I call forth Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz the third, acting alpha of the city of LA, the county of Los Angeles, the state of California and the West Coast of America." Pete swallowed and stood up, moving hurriedly to stand in front of Charlie. She smiled gently before beginning. "It is our understanding that you and your associates killed the previous title holder." I willed Pete to stick to the script. Ray had given us a list of acceptable things to say and when to say them. Rules like speaking only when you have something important to say - especially when the Summit was in session - and about keeping answers short and to the point, but not abrupt since that was seen as rude.

"Yes," Pete replied simply. The huge hall was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

"And why was this?" I could hear Pete swallow from my seat in one of the back rows.

"Evidence gathered showed that Luka planned to turn the entirety of Los Angeles for personal gain," he said, keeping his voice even and his view unbiased, which meant using no ‘I’ or ‘we’ statements. Murmuring uttered from the alphas and betas gathered. Charlie nodded at Pete and looked up to the assembled council.

"Peter Wentz has given me the evidence necessary to prove his case and I have no complaints nor debates. Does anyone wish to argue the case?" No one said anything. "In that case, I would like to appoint Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz the third as my beta, to take on the mantle of alpha of the city of LA, the county of Los Angeles, the state of California and the West Coast of America, to serve his clan and honour his alpha for all time." Pete frowned.

"May I question this?" Charlie frowned at Pete, but shrugged and nodded once.

"Go ahead."

"My, uh, sire-bonded and I have been vampires for less than two years and we transitioned from vampires to sunwalkers less than a year ago. Neither of us is in a position to have that much power and if we were, I am not sure we would want it. With your permission, I would like to abdicate." This time, the angered words of the vampires were extremely loud and I winced. Charlie raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed?" She contemplated Pete for a minute. "Brendon Boyd Urie, please join us." It was my turn to swallow and make my way to stand next to Pete. "You feel the same?"

"Yes," I said firmly. She nodded contemplatively.

"Very well. However, I will present my conditions. You will continue to act as alpha and beta of the clans until a suitable replacement can be found and vetted by us collectively. Then, should you wish it, you may be permitted to form your own clan which may contain a maximum of fifty members. How you organise this clan and where you locate it is your decision, but you must come to me with a name as soon as you have one which is not taken, and you will also bring me a census every five years." Uproar burst from the vampires but Charlie raised her hand. "I do this in the knowledge of what our species has done to the Sunwalkers over the years, I believe that this is the right thing to do." She glanced up at the vampires in the chamber. "Unless you wish to enslave those who have saved us from annihilation like we did their predecessors?" The uproar turned to mumbling and whispers before eventually falling silent. "In that case," she picked up the little hammer - much like the ones judges used in court - and banged it down on the little pad on the speaker's desk, "as it is spoken, so it is made law. You are released." A sigh of relief flooded through my and I threw my arms around Pete.

But Charlie hadn't finished speaking. "I bring forth a motion to make this the official stance on Sunwalkers. Clans will be permitted and free to live outside vampire law while still limited and overseen by the council. All those in favour of debate." A few people stood up to indicate their agreement to debate the motion. Charlie sighed. "If nothing is done, the sunwalkers will rise and overthrow us, especially when they discover that I have let these two form their own clan. By using this method, we may eliminate their resistance and gain them as allies. If this law is not passed, soon we will have to relinquish all control." With those statements, practically the entire chamber shot to their feet. "The motion will be discussed tomorrow in the Dusk Hall. Alphas only. Speaker finished." Charlie stepped down from the podium and wandered over to us.

"Wow," I breathed. "That was…weird." Charlie smiled and adjusted her forest green gown.

"Indeed. I trust we can form an alliance. I should like to get to know sunwalkers as potential friends, not as scientific subjects." Pete smiled awkwardly, frowning a little.

"Thanks, I think?"

"It is a compliment."

"Oh. Well then thank you. And yes, I think it would be good to have an alliance, but that doesn't mean we will get involved in your affairs or business or wars." Charlie breathed in and exhaled slowly.

"No. I would imagine not. But, if you can provide a bridge between us and the human world that would be appreciated. We may once have been human, but most of us are too old to remember and too different to care. You are the perfect vessels of communication between our two worlds." Pete smiled blushing slightly.

"We would be honoured." He paused for a moment, thinking. "When you said we could start our own clan, why did you suggest that?" Charlie frowned and tilted her head.

"You do not wish for a family of your own?"

"In my experience, a clan isn't really like a family. Certainly not one I've ever seen." Charlie sighed and rubbed her forehead as if she had a headache.

"I apologise for that. Luka's clan was not the best example. But my clan in New York, we are very close, I do not control them and if they have a problem, they are not scared to come to me for help. We turn only those who have agreed to it and only after they have stayed with us for a year to learn our customs and ways, unless it is a medical emergency. It is always their decision." She turned to the council room. "Heidi! Come," she called.

"Yeah? What's up?" A small, young-looking woman with olive skin, bright, mismatched eyes and a mass of frizzy black hair appeared instantaneously, wearing a pair of navy blue denim shorts and an oversized burgundy hoodie with the Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco logos painstakingly hand painted, my band on the front, Pete's on the back. "Oh, hey. You're the newbies!" She shook our hands enthusiastically. "Brendon and Pete. Never thought I'd see the day. I'm a huge fan." She squealed slightly and Charlie smiled, waving a hand as Heidi grinned again and sped off.

"Heidi is quite new too. I turned her myself about twelve years ago but this is her first Summit." I glanced after the departing young vampire. She seemed so full of life compared to the vampires who kept company with Luka. "I just meant if you wanted to build something like that, it would be okay." Pete nodded and I replied for him.

"I don't think either of us is ready to sire more sunwalkers." Charlie shook her head.

"That's not really what I meant. You could if you wanted, but you have other friends, half-breeds, humans, even a few with celestial blood. A clan does not have to be all vampires." I stared in disbelief, my expression matching Pete's perfectly. He recovered himself after a moment.

"Thank you. For everything." She shrugged and smiled.

"You've done something incredible. My people are in your debt. I have no doubts that should Luka have succeeded, he would have come after me and you saved me from that fate. You deserve this." Pete bowed his head. "Anyway, I must go. There is more business to attend to. I trust you will stay for the ball," she said with a devilish grin. Pete returned a smile.

"Wouldn't miss it."

~~~~~~~~~~

We sat in on the council's meetings for the next week, occasionally offering a thought or opinion on the topics which arose. Then, the three nights leading up to the Samhain Ball arrived. Despite our dancing lessons with Ray, nothing could have prepared us for it. The first night was loud, raucous, with wild dances which moved faster than possible. With the addition of my ADHD, I just about managed to keep up, but Pete was exhausted after two dances and refrained for the rest of the night. The following night was slow by comparison, the dances mostly waltzes, moving with the flow of the music. Pete joined in more than I did, enjoying the gentle movement which didn't require moving at two million miles an hour.

The third and final night was the night of the Samhain Ball. Tradition stated that we wore masks and costumes which Ray had diligently packed. Mine was brightly coloured with teal, green and violet hues in my shirt, suspenders, waistcoat, bow tie and suit, the mask taking the shape of a peacock. Pete's was sleek black with flecks of the same colours my shirt bore, the mask fashioned like a starling. I remembered the winged celestial at the battle – Castiel – and grinned at Pete donned his mask and we headed towards the ball.

There were no words in any language that could describe the beauty and insanity in the ballroom. People wore all colours of costume with all shapes of mask. The hall was decorated in swathes of burnt orange, burgundy red and dark golden fabric. Huge chandeliers sent soft, warm orange light scattering across the room, illuminating the enormous ballroom. Amid the typical autumn colours I caught glimpses of violet jewels, hanging from the chandeliers and woven into the fabric.

"Pete! Brendon! You made it!" We turned to find Charlie looking like an autumn queen in her kingdom. Her mask was fashioned into a fox, her dress in the same shades as the fabric around the hall. Her violet eyes glittered under the lights. She extended a hand to me, resting it on my forearm. "Dance with me, Brendon." I raised an eyebrow and swallowed, desperately attempting to remember the steps Ray had taught us. She threw a glance over her shoulder at Pete. "You're a little...short. I'm sure Heidi will be quite willing to dance with you if you ask, Pete." I grinned and stuck my tongue out at him as he rolled his eyes and smiled graciously. In all honesty, I was only two inches taller than her and she was wearing inch-high heels, but I didn’t mind, and apparently even a vampire couldn’t dance for hours on end in heels so she took them off after a few dances.

As we danced, I caught sight of Pete twirling an excited-looking Heidi in a pale grey wolf mask and dress. He threw me a smile which I returned as Charlie ducked under my arm, the skirts of her dress floating as she too twirled.

The night wore on. Eventually, Pete and I excused ourselves and wandered to grab drinks, surveying the ballroom. A moment after that, Heidi joined us. I grinned at her and she returned the look. I caught a glimpse of the violet gems nestled like birds eggs among the fabric and frowned momentarily. "Hey Heidi, what are the violet jewels for?"

"Oh. Traditionally, this party has two names. The Samhain Ball is the most common, but it's also sometimes called the Sunset Masquerade since autumn is the sunset of the year. Violet is a sunset colour so among all the autumn stuff is a little hint of sunset." I smiled and watched as a woman in a swan costume ducked, twisted and turned with her partner.

"I kind of think it's sad that it has to end." Heidi grinned.

"Me too. It's quite something. We have one every year in New York. Not anywhere near as elaborate as this, but close enough. You should come at some point." I smiled and nodded, elbowing Pete.

"Definitely." Heidi nodded and smiled shyly.

"Before I go, can I...can we hug and get a photo to show people in the clan? We’re all big fans of yours." Pete raised an eyebrow but shrugged.

"Do you have a phone?" She nodded and fished it out of a pocket in her dress. We took pictures together and she thanked us profusely before disappearing into the crowd. Pete glanced at me. "Ready to go?" I glared at him for a moment and he giggled. "Seriously though." I smiled and nodded.

"Yes. This has been incredible." Pete stared out over the ballroom for a minute.

"Yes it has. But, we have a new band to meet." I grinned.

"We do. Shall we?" I offered my arm and Pete rolled his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~

The flight to England was easy and we arrived safely on the ground barely two hours after departing. Having been awake for sixteen hours solidly, we could probably have done with catching a few hours of sleep, but our sunwalker bodies could run on as little as 28 hours a week if necessary. We could have driven, but we decided to run from London to Nottingham since it would cost less and take less time. We arrived in just under an hour and a half. 

Sam had sent us an email with a location a few weeks into the summit so we headed towards it. As it turned out, it was someone's house. Had our hearing not had the advantage of sunwalker enhancements we probably wouldn't have heard the faint music emanating through the soundproofing and bricks. Pete knocked during a break in the noise and a tall man opened the door, a man who couldn't have been more than eighteen. His mouth fell open upon seeing us in the doorway which meant he at least knew who we were.

"SPARKLES!" He shrieked, running away down a set of stairs and into what I assumed was a basement. A man with ginger hair and blue eyes appeared in the doorway. He swallowed nervously.

"Come in?"

I glanced at Pete. "Is that a question or an offer?" The man - Sparkles - swallowed and didn't say anything more, just moved out of the way and allowed us in.

"I'm sorry. The place is a mess. Leo's just moved in and we've not finished unpacking yet," he apologised profusely, picking up hoodies and other random items of clothes which were strewn over the floor and sofa. Pete glanced at me.

"Brendon was the same when I signed him." Sparkles smiled a little.

"Kogie and Parv are just packing stuff away. They'll be up in a minute. Do you want a cup of tea?" I glanced at Pete and burst out giggling.

"You know, I didn't even think the British were obsessed with tea. Clearly I was wrong." Sparkles blushed bright red.

"We have coffee too." I smiled.

"That would be great. Thank you." Sparkles made himself busy with the coffee as three people appeared in the kitchen, including the tall one who opened the door.

"Hello. I'm Parv. This is Kogie and you've met Leo." We nodded and shook each of their hands in turn before reaching Parv. Pete and I shot a glance at each other as we felt the cool temperature of his skin. Tuning our ears into his heartbeat, we realised one thing. Every single member of the band, except Parv was wearing long sleeves. In fact the three others looked a little wiped out. And given the temperature of the house, we would have expected t-shirts. I swallowed and took my cup of coffee from Sparkles while Pete got straight to business.

"A friend of ours told us about your band. We were interested so we thought we'd come." The four of them looked extremely surprised.

"We only started up a few weeks ago," Kogie said with a frown, "and we haven't posted anything online - or anywhere." He seemed suspicious and on edge and I could see why. Even if Pete and I had some level of fame it was a little weird us turning up on their doorstep without them knowing anything about us coming.

"Sam's psychic. He can dream the future." They shrugged. That was the final straw. Most people would panic if they found out someone had powers. I refused to hold my tongue any longer.

"Is he keeping you hostage?" I asked, looking at Kogie, Leo and Sparkles while avoiding looking at Parv. They all frowned, getting defensive, their heart rates speeding up significantly.

"No! What do you mean?"

"Well he's clearly a vampire." It seemed Pete couldn't keep his mouth shut either. Parv looked mildly terrified.

"I'm not!" He protested. Sparkles stepped forwards.

“Get out of our house.” Pete stared at him while I spoke.

"Dude! Parv’s skin is half the temperature of everyone else's and his heart beat is so slow it might as well be a snail!" Kogie stared strangely at us, wary.

"How do you know that?" Pete glanced at me and I rolled my eyes, flicking them to violet and clicking my fangs into place.

"It’s not difficult to sense temperature. And we're sunwalkers." At that, they all seemed to relax a little, though there was still tenseness in the air which I didn't like at all. Parv flicked violet irises to us. Not a vampire but a sunwalker like us. We smiled reassuringly.

"Trust me," Pete said, "we're not here to take you away or kill you. Sam told us you were important and I believe him. We just want to talk. And to invite you to LA for our Yule Dance/Christmas Party, whatever you want to call it. I’m sure the other members of our band would like to get to know you guys and to have the chance to play music together." I glanced at my sire and rolled my eyes.

“Look, if you want to get to know us more, or need help with band stuff, here’s the email address and phone number for the multi-bands. At least one of us checks it every day, usually Patrick or Spencer, but sometimes one of the others. Get in touch or don’t. At least you have the option.” Leo took the card off us, revealing a still-healing bite mark. “And if you want a better option when it comes to Parv and blood, we can talk about that too.” They all blushed bright red and nodded shyly, Sparkles guiding us to the door.

“You can really help Parv?” He asked.

“We can at least give him a better option. Patrick made something which works for us, if we can’t help other people with it, they what’s the point?” Sparkles nodded.

“Thank you.” We shrugged and smiled.

“Anytime. We’re not heading back to LA until tomorrow.” He nodded and closed the door. I glanced at Pete and released a long breath. “Sleep and then home?” I nodded and smiled contentedly. Our first meeting might not have gone as well as we thought it would, but at least they had the option to contact us now.

“Sleep and home sounds good.” Pete smiled.


	39. We'll Carry On.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yule Ball 2010 - 25th December
> 
> Pete's PoV
> 
> Los Angeles, California

Finally.

Finally, everything was good. We were on the landing outside the staircase entrance to the ballroom of Patrick's - now collectively our - mansion. Brendon looked like an over excited puppy next to me as we stood in a circle with our friends. Patrick, Andy, Joe, Dallon, Spencer, Gerard, Mikey, Frank, Ray, Tyler and Josh. Alex, Priya, Sparkles, Parv, Kogie, Leo and Heidi. We'd finally brought everyone together. 

Frankly, I couldn’t blame them for looking nervous, especially given what they were about to do. Patrick’s eyes darted to the double doors they were about to enter through. “Okay. This is going to be fine. Just relax.” None of them did. “You know we can smell your fear, right?” Apparently that was not the right thing to say as the scents coming off the eighteen of them became stronger. I sighed and rolled my eyes, straightening my suit. Brendon, Dallon and Spencer were dressed in suits with waistcoats and bow ties - outdressing everyone else - while I’d only just managed to persuade most of the others to wear smart clothes. They at least looked semi-presentable. The doors swung open and they entered the ballroom.

No expense had been spared. The coloured glass chandeliers were lit, casting beams of multi-coloured light across the polished wooden floor. A multitude of vampires from across California danced together, some in ornate ballgowns which looked like they had come straight out of a medieval fairytale, others in modern, floor length dresses. The men’s clothes were equally varied and no less ornate. I smiled and breathed in the scent of cinnamon, spices and wine. Just because alcohol had no effect on vampires didn’t mean the same was true of sunwalkers - thank whatever deity I chose to invoke. A beautiful young vampire wearing a smile and a victorian style ballgown tended a bar serving anything and everything. "One egg nog, one orange juice." Patrick elbowed me and I frowned. 

"Pete. I'm twenty six. I can order my own orange juice." I smirked as the bartender handed over a glass of orange juice with a fancy umbrella, which Patrick smiled softly at. I sighed and sat next to him, leaning back on the bar.

“What’s wrong?” Patrick stared into the distance with an indecipherable expression.

“Nothing.” He sounded surprised. “There’s nothing wrong. There are so many people in this room - all different species and backgrounds and ages with plenty of bad history, but no one is dead. It’s weird." He went silent for a moment, watching the dancing. "Anyway, you never said who invited us. You never told us anything about the Summit either,” he said as an afterthought. I smiled.

“I invited you, Joe, Andy and MCR and Brendon invited Dallon and Spencer and the others.” I glanced around at the people Brendon had dragged along besides his bandmates. “Apparently he has no concept of limits. With regards to the Summit, Charlie spoke to us, and vouched for us and since it's technically not country-wide business, it was her choice what to do with us and she's cool. In fact, she asked me and Brendon to take over.” Patrick frowned.

“Take over what?”

“The clan.” I smirked as Patrick nearly choked on his orange juice. “The vampire who is in charge of all of America - that's Charlie - had to choose a new Alpha of the West Coast - and everything Luka had been alpha of - since the West, East and Central Alphas are also her Betas. She chose me and then it was my responsibility to choose my beta, so naturally, that was Brendon. But we’re less Alpha-Beta and more co-alpha, which is definitely, totally against the rules so don’t tell. But, she knows we don’t want the control of that many vampires. She also knows that sunwalkers aren’t like vampires and don’t quite fit into a vampire clan. She said that if I could find suitable replacements, Brendon and I would be free. As in, we wouldn’t have to answer to any of the clans. Apparently lone vampires and sunwalkers are a thing - which I did not know. She also said that if we wanted, we could start a clan of our own, a clan that didn’t have to be all vampires or sunwalkers, a clan that could include half-breeds and humans and healers and anyone else who wanted to join us, right here in LA.” Patrick both frowned and smiled at the same time.

“But I thought you couldn’t have two clans in the same…anywhere.”

“You can’t. But because of what we did with Luka, she said that as long as we don’t get into any trouble and we keep our clan small, under fifty, we can do it. Plus we have to give her a census every five years. And obviously, we wouldn’t be the LA clan since that name is taken, so I’m still coming up with a name. But what do you say, Patrick? When I find my replacement, will you help me forge my own clan?” He swallowed.

“We’d all be in it? MCR, Panic, TØP, Alex, Joe, Andy and the others?” I nodded. “Then hell yes." He grinned. "Exhilaration aside, we won’t have to call you any fancy titles will we?” I laughed.

“God no. In fact, if you do, I swear…”

“My Lord Alpha, Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz the third, may I offer you some tea?” He said in his best posh British accent. I narrowed my eyes and wrinkled my nose but he laughed and it made me smile and roll my eyes.

“You know, I missed this. Us. Laughing and talking. The last two years have been so indescribably weird.” Andy and Joe appeared, leaning on the bar next to us. I stared out over the floor at the hundreds of people, happy, laughing through a fast paced dance that only two people seemed to know the steps to. Joe smiled. “What?"

“Nothing.” I raised an eyebrow. “You look like a king hovering over his people to help them however he can.”

“You too?” They laughed. “Seriously though. No titles.” Joe and Andy frowned briefly and Patrick explained to them what I’d told him. They hugged me and offered similar jokes before we fell silent for a long while, watching the vast oceans of colour and light, their happiness practically radiating.

Eventually, Brendon appeared through the sea of moving people, moving with all the grace of a human on his eighty-second beer rather than the elegance most of the vampires maintained. He still managed to be more graceful than me. It seemed that poise and dignity were things that were learnt over time, not ingrained into our supernaturally gifted beings. A few moments later, Dallon and Spencer appeared, the former looking mildly concerned about the state Brendon found himself in, the latter looking like a willing accomplice.

“You should probably stop,” Dallon raised his voice over the music and took the beer out of Brendon’s hand.

“Why? I wasn’t able to get drunk for like, a year. I’m making up for lost time.” I rolled my eyes and picked out something alcoholic for myself, sighing contentedly. Somehow, there was a feeling that maybe, just maybe, we might get back to some semblance of normality.

Of course, drunk Brendon could always be relied upon to kick the party up a notch. And then it was just like old times. He dragged each of us to dance at least once, buying enough alcohol to keep us all pliantly willing to indulge in the moment. Andy - our designated driver and the most sensible of any of us - politely declined the offer, even after the twentieth time Brendon asked. Brendon also decided that he would get word out to the entire ballroom full of people that there were famous band members in their midst, which meant that one way or another, we ended up on stage, half-drunk and disastrously playing our instruments.

By four in the morning, most of the people had left to drive back to whatever place they came from, each shaking my hand and thanking me on the way out. Dallon scooped up a semi-unconscious Brendon and dragged Spencer out with him. Tyler and Josh apologised profusely for imposing and I rolled my eyes, hugging each of them briefly before they left. My Chem had left earlier, Gerard dragging the others out under the excuse that his wife was expecting him home before two in the morning - not realising the clock already read quarter past three at the point they left. The three girls left together, giggling and went back to Alex's apartment. Finally, the Englishmen left having had the chance to meet and speak to everyone they'd wanted to, leaving my band alone in the vast, empty ballroom. I hopped up onto the bar, grinning. The others smiled too. "So. Who's up for doing it all again next year?" They glared at me and burst out laughing.

"Pete, you're an idiot and we love you," Patrick rested his head on my shoulder. 

"I know. I'm fabulous." I replied. I glanced around at the ballroom at the colossal mess which covered the floor and smirked. "Now, who wants to do the tidying up?"


	40. Author's Note

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written from my bed at 11:30 at night.

This is my final word on this fanfic.

To the readers, thank you if you made it to the end. If you enjoyed, kudos and comments are always appreciated.

To CloudCat, thank you for persuading me to post this even though I barely knew the characters when I started.

This has been posted over the course of months and I've enjoyed every minute of writing it, finding out every little detail to throw in to make the whole story come together. There is much more material to be posted, so look out for the sequel: 'After...'

When I first started writing this, it was just a note on my laptop, albeit a long one with a lot of worldbuilding. It was only after talking to my... well, it's complicated... but only after talking to her did I post the first few chapters. The story has grown since those words on that note, it has changed and developed and I am rather proud of the result, even if it doesn't include half of what was on the original fic idea.

Anway, if you're curious to find out more, check out the prequel series detailing Luka's and Alex's beginnings, featuring Priya. Also, there is a World Anvil page to check out if you're like me and need characters slotted into neat little boxes. As I said, 'After...' is in the works, featuring the adventures (and misadventures) of the bands post 2010.

If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment.

Sincerely, 

T

_Names/Nicknames/Aliases/Species/Birthdays_  
1\. Ray Toro (Jet Star) - Half-breed - 15th July 1777  
2\. Gerard Way (Party Poison) - Half-breed - 9th April 1977  
3\. Pete Wentz (Revolution) - Sunwalker - 5th June 1979  
4\. Andy Hurley (Kick Snare) - Human - 31st May 1980  
5\. Mikey Way (Kobra Kid) - Half-breed - 10th September 1980  
6\. Dallon Weekes (Head Pick) - Human - 4th May 1981  
7\. Frank Iero (Fun Ghoul) - Half-breed - 31st October 1981  
8\. Patrick Stump (Dr Benzedrine) - Human - 27th April 1984  
9\. Joe Trohman (Guitar Hero) - Human - 1st September 1984  
10\. Brendon Urie (Panic Puppy) - Sunwalker - 12th April 1987  
11\. Spencer Smith (High Hat) - Human - 2nd September 1987  
12\. Tom Clarke (Sparkles*) - Human - 17th March 1988  
13\. Josh Dun (Missile Kid) - Advanced human -18th June 1988  
14\. Tyler Joseph (Mad Gear) - Advanced human - 1st December 1988  
15\. Johnathan Kogan (Kogie) - Human - 7th March 1989  
16\. Alex Parvis (Parv) - Sunwalker - 15th April 1990  
17\. Leo Taylor - Human - 14th February 1992


End file.
